Eighteen months into the coronavirus pandemic, the community help sector has told the state’s economic regulator that rising debt is the number one issue for clients who are seeking help.
Representatives from 20 Victorian consumer and community help services told the Essential Services Commission that ‘buy now, pay later’ deals and a lack of intervention before high bills accumulate are adding to the situation.
Simply Energy has paid a $5000 penalty for the alleged wrongful disconnection of a visually impaired, elderly woman’s power and consequently her heating during a cold snap earlier this year.
Evidence obtained by the Essential Services Commission showed the customer called Simply Energy in April 2021 to let them know she was moving to a new house in May, but the company inadvertently disconnected her power 18 days early.
Penalty notice
13 August 2021
Simply Energy penalty notice 2021 (wrongful disconnection)
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Further information
The second year of economic challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has seen the number of Victorian customers in hardship programs continue to increase, but at a slower rate.
The state’s independent water regulator has adjusted the maximum interest water businesses can charge customers who don’t pay bills on time, up from 2.9 per cent to 5.3 per cent.
Each year the commission sets the maximum interest rate water businesses may charge customers for unpaid bills, based on up-to-date information on borrowing rates.
Pricing director Marcus Crudden said that the commission’s role provides an important protection for customers that may have missed a bill deadline.
… the code of conduct. “more than 2 million households and businesses have benefited from the victorian energy upgrades program since it began in 2009. it has delivered critical outcomes to help meet victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets and achieve important cost savings for energy consumers. the code of conduct will continue to grow public confidence by setting out the behaviours and standards victorians should expect from people and businesses delivering services under
The state’s independent pricing regulator has released draft guidance for Goulburn-Murray Water as the water business consults with customers on prices to apply from 1 July 2024.
The Essential Service Commission is seeking feedback on its draft guidance paper, which sets out what Goulburn-Murray Water needs to include in its price submission, due in September 2023. The draft paper also outlines how the commission will assess the price submission.
We are aware of instances of large numbers of refrigerated cabinets being dumped on the street or provided to customers who don’t want them.
As the administrator and regulator of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program, the Essential Services Commission considers this behaviour to be completely unacceptable.
On 12 July 2022 the Essential Services Commission initiated the ‘retailer of last resort’ process that transferred customers from failed retailer Power Club Limited (Powerclub), to other retailers in Victoria to provide for the continued supply and sale of electricity services.
Powerclub was suspended from the National Electricity Market by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) effective from 0:00 hours Australian Eastern Standard time on 12 July 2022 for failing to comply with AEMO requirements.
'Cold-call' telemarketing and doorknocking bansFrom 1 August 2024, doorknocking is banned under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program. This follows the ban on 'cold-call' telemarketing that took effect on 1 May 2024. The obligations of accredited persons and scheme participants under the bans are outlined in guidance materials on this page.The video recording and presentation slides from our industry webinar held on 17 April 2024 are also a useful resource. These provide an
11 August 2022
AGL payment difficulty framework and disconnections enforceable undertaking 2022
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11 August 2022
EnergyAustralia enforceable undertaking 2022
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Energy Retail Code of Practice
The Essential Services Commission has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from AGL Sales Pty Ltd (AGL) following allegations it failed to comply with rules in place to protect customers facing bill stress, and disconnected customers wrongfully.
The Energy Innovation Toolkit is now live and open to businesses seeking to test innovative technologies, approaches, business models, products and services in the Victorian energy market.
Licence granted
1st Energy Pty Ltd was granted a licence on 3 June 2016. The licence can be accessed via the resources tab.
Licence varied
This licence was last varied on 22 June 2022 with effect from 12 September 2022.
Penalty notices
18 July 2022
Origin Energy penalty notices 2022 (life support protections)
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18 July 2022
Origin Energy penalty notices 2022 (payment difficulty
Victoria’s economic regulator has found that the Port of Melbourne has not been fully compliant with state government’s legislative requirements for how it should set prices for services.
We have completed our inquiry
We are required by the Port Management Act 1995 (Vic) to conduct an inquiry into the Port of Melbourne’s compliance with the 2016 pricing order every five years. Our first inquiry covered the review period 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2021.
We
2 February 2022
Through our compliance program, we have identified VEEC creation claims for building based lighting upgrades (activity 34) that do not accurately reflect the presence of lighting control devices in baseline LED lamps. This has led to an inflated number of VEECs being created for these upgrades.
… sumo penalty notices 2021 (wrongful disconnection) sumo has paid penalties totalling $500,000 after allegedly wrongfully disconnecting 143 victorian energy customers on 14 december 2020. breadcrumb home sumo penalty notices 2021 (wrongful disconnection) sumo has paid penalties totalling $500,000 after we issued 100 penalty notices on 30 november 2021. we issued the penalties to sumo for arranging the alleged wrongful disconnection of