Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner’s cases up 127%

11 December 2014

Media release:

Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner’s cases up 127%

In the six-months to 30 September 2014 the office of the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner (EGCC) received 2238 complaints about electricity and gas companies. This is up from 986 in the same period last year and shows an increase of 127%.

Issues other than seasonality have affected complaint numbers in the six month period from 1 April to 30 September 2014. The statistics show, amongst other factors, the impact of a retailer’s new customer billing system.

Billing and customer service issues continue to be the most common complaints. 41% of all complaints in the six months from 1 April to 30 September 2014 were billing complaints and another 27% of all complaints during the same six month period were customer service issues.

The proportion of complaints relating to disconnection and meters declined for the same six month period significantly, falling from a previous 9% of all complaints for both issues to 3% for disconnections and 5% of meters.

About 88% of the complaints the EGCC received in the period were settled between the parties, a slight decrease of 2% against the same period last year.

Commissioner Judi Jones says this is still a very good result in light of the large increase in complaints coming into the Scheme. “One of the benefits of an independent external complaint resolution scheme is to increase trust in the industry. Member companies are continuing to show they are willing to work with complainants to resolve issues, and to work with the EGCC when they are unable to resolve a complaint between them.”

Six-monthly report on electricity and gas complaints statistics

This report gives the total workload for the six months from 1 April to 30 September 2014, an overview of the issues in complaints received in the period, and member companies’ share of complaints that reached deadlock. The term ‘deadlocked’ refers to a complaint that is unresolved after a period of time, or if the Commissioner is satisfied certain criteria have been met.

Total workload

The total workload at the EGCC is measured by the number of enquiries and complaints. EGCC recorded 2324 enquiries, up 1.35% on the previous six month period. Complaints also increased by 127% with 2238 recorded complaints. The workload under normal circumstances would reflect the seasonal change in energy use. Issues other than seasonality have affected complaint numbers in the six month period

from 1 April to 30 September 2014. The statistics show, amongst other factors, the impact of a retailer’s new customer billing system.

Complaints reaching deadlock, increased by almost 150% against the same six month period in 2013. Deadlocked complaints in the six-months from 1 April to 30 September 2014 were 261, up from 105.

Issues in complaints

Billing continues to be the most common issue in complaints, followed by customer service, disconnection and meters. Many complaints have more than one issue and so these figures are calculated by looking at the frequency of the issues in all complaints. This table shows the top four complaint issues for the six-month period compared to the same six-month period in 2013, and the previous 12 months.

Since October 2012 the EGCC Board has published the number of complaints reaching deadlock per member company. This information is presented separately for retail and lines member companies, and shows the share of such complaints and market share for the category of membership. Most member companies, 36 out of 61, did not have any complaints reaching deadlock. The Board notes the fact a complaint reaches deadlock does not necessarily mean the company is at fault.

The Board acknowledges members’ role in ensuring consumers know they can access the EGCC. Members who comply with this obligation promote trust in the industry through improving consumer access to external, independent complaint resolution.

Complaints reach deadlock for a number of reasons, including:

• A problem with a member company’s systems, customer service, or complaint handling processes

• A member company may not believe they are liable and the dispute about this remains unresolved

• A member company may extend the Commissioner’s jurisdiction to consider a particular complaint

• The complaint involves complex and unusual events that present unexplored issues.

The EGCC is the approved resolution scheme for complaints about electricity and gas companies. All electricity and gas companies must belong to the EGCC, and tell customers they are members. The EGCC can consider complaints up to $50,000, or up to $100,000 with the agreement of the member company.

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