Hundreds of Wyndham residents have complained about having their gas, electricity or water turned off or about struggling to pay their bills, new figures from the Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria reveal.
Figures obtained by Star Weekly reveal the ombudsman – who investigates and resolves complaints between Victorian customers and their electricity, gas and water companies – received 1272 complaints and queries from Wyndham residents between January 1, 2015, and February 29 this year.
The top four issues plaguing Wyndham residents were debt collection by energy providers, credit ratings, imminent or actual energy disconnection and the high cost of utility services.
Meanwhile, an Essential Services Commission report into energy hardship has found that when dealing with customers, energy providers had very broad discretion to determine who is entitled to assistance and the level of assistance that they provide, leading to inconsistent outcomes for utility customers struggling to pay bills. The report called for an overhaul of current practices.
Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria Cynthia Gebert welcomed the Essential Services Commission report.
“This is a terribly complex issue and a new framework to address energy affordability has been needed for some time,” she said.
“There is certainly a lot more work to be done in this space.”
Contact your provider
Ms Gebert called on utility customers to contact their electricity, water or gas providers as soon as they had problems.
“By the same token, companies need to be willing to listen to their customers and to actively seek fair and reasonable solutions to their concerns.
“Encouragingly though, we have recently seen improvements in companies’ willingness to work with their customers to do just this, which is reflected in a 40 per cent drop in EWOV cases between 2013-14 and 2014-15.”
To make a complaint, call EWOV on 1800 500 509 or visit www.ewov.com.au
