A message from the OmbudsmanComplaint trends

Complaints to EWON increased between March and May 2018, following falling complaint numbers in January and February 2018. We received 1,765 complaints in February, 2,063 in March and 2,079 in April. Complaints then climbed significantly to 2,429 in May 2018. The reasons behind customer complaints remained consistent, with billing continuing to be the biggest complaint issue and high bills the most prominent billing issue.

Digital meter complaints also continued to grow following the introduction of new metering rules on 1 December 2017. In January 2018 we received 72 digital meter complaints; by May 2018 that figure had grown to 195. The main issues customers are experiencing are installation delays and meters not being installed. Our expanded jurisdiction and new Constitution

EWON’s jurisdiction has expanded to include as members entities that supply energy to residential customers via an embedded network, under an exemption from the Australian Energy Regulator. Until now, while residents in embedded networks had access to EWON, exempt entities were not members of EWON. As such, they were not required to participate in our complaint handling process and our decisions were not binding on them. That will now change as these entities join EWON.

The expansion of our jurisdiction offered an ideal opportunity to review our Constitution to ensure it continues to be fit for purpose in the rapidly changing energy and water environment. Following extensive consultation, our members voted to accept proposed constitutional changes at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 7 June 2018. Changes included amendments to member voting rights, Board industry representation and director tenure. The Board also approved changes to EWON’s funding model. Our new Constitution is available at ewon.com.au.

If your business operates in embedded networks, and you would like to know more or enquire about becoming a member of EWON, visit ewon.com.au/exemptentities.

Janine Young Ombudsman Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW

KEY ISSUES

BILLING 14,61511,291

5,0652,1341,343

713

CUSTOMER SERVICE

CREDIT

TRANSFER

GENERAL

DIGITAL METER EXCHANGE

Jul 17

5,835 18,278

COMPLAINTS BY MONTH

COMPLAINTS BY INDUSTRY

4,46818,827 757Electricity Gas Water

There were 61 non energy or non water related cases

CASES RECEIVED JULY 2017 TO MAY 2018

There may be more than 1 issue per complaint.

EWON's case data varies in accordance with case progression and figures in this newsletter reflect case status as at 19 June 2018.

24,113COMPLAINT INVESTIGATIONS

ENQUIRIES, COMPLAINTS AND REFERRALS

Aug 17 Feb 18Dec 17Nov 17 Jan 18Oct 17Sept 17

2,472

2,125

2,4982,651

2,533

1,684 1,814 1,765

38

Mar 18 Apr 18 May 18

2,4292,0792,063

Our Policy and Research Team has been busy preparing submissions on actions and changes proposed by government, industry and regulators.

In April we made a submission to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s consultation on preventing discounts on inflated energy rates and to the Australian Retail Credit Association’s proposed variations to the privacy (credit reporting) code 2014.

Power to save

You can view our submissions at ewon.com.au.

EWON Chair standing down

• Lighting upgrade discounts• Households and small businesses will be able to

reduce their power bills by up to $200 a year under a new NSW Government initiative that allows people to upgrade to new LED energy saving lights at discounted prices. For more details visit powertosave.nsw.gov.au/households/discounted-energy-efficient-lighting-households

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• 40-50% discounts on appliances • The NSW Government’s Appliance Replacement

Offer continues to help concession cardholders. Eligible customers can receive up to 50% discount when replacing their old fridge or TV with a new model. The offer applies to selected models. The amount you can save on an energy bill may vary as follows:

• • replace a fridge and save up to $200 a year

• • replace a TV and save up to $125 a year

• Visit the Appliance Replacement Offer website powertosave.nsw.gov.au/appliance for all the details.

•

If you are a community organisation you can distribute flyers to inform households of the Appliance Replacement Offer program. You can order your free promotional material here: http://register.environment.nsw.gov.au/promotional-material-order. These can be delivered to you free of charge.

No more feesDon’t forget that retailers are no longer allowed to charge customers fees for:

• issuing a paper bill

• making payments at the post office

• early termination (with some exceptions).

The NSW Government’s new website powertosave.nsw.gov.au features a number of energy saving initiatives for households and small business. This site also has information on rebates, energy saving tips, webinars and more.

Our recent submissions

Professor Julian Disney AO announced he will stand down as EWON Board Chair in September 2018.

Professor Disney was appointed Chair of the EWON Council on 1 February 2010 and led EWON through a series of major changes including:

• the variation in governance structure from a Board and Council to a unitary governance framework, to be appointed by directors Chair of the Board from 1 July 2012

• the change of Ombudsman from Clare Petre to Janine Young in 2014

• the significant expansion of our jurisdiction.

A highlight for Professor Disney, our community members and other key stakeholders was his chairing to our twice yearly Consultative Council Meetings.

We would like to thank Professor Disney for his leadership and commitment to EWON’s growth since 2010.

During the cooler months, power consumption increases as we stay warm inside our homes. Quarterly billing means that many households often won’t see their charges adding up until a few months later, so it's important to keep on top of your energy usage. Below are some tips on saving energy around the home during the winter months.

• Keep the heat in by blocking draughts with door snakes, curtains and other seals.

• Put on an extra layer of clothing or add another blanket on your bed.

• Use your appliances efficiently by getting into good habits like turning them off at the wall when they’re not in use. Standby power can account for more than 10% of household energy use.

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Our Policy and Research Team has been busy preparing submissions on actions and changes proposed by government, industry and regulators.

In April we made a submission to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s consultation on preventing discounts on inflated energy rates and to the Australian Retail Credit Association’s proposed variations to the privacy (credit reporting) code 2014.

EWON often receives questions from community workers so that they can assist their clients with electricity, gas or water problems. Community workers need authority from their client to discuss their account with EWON. This can be provided over the phone or by filling in an Authority to Act form.

You can view our submissions at ewon.com.au.

Our recent submissions

Community worker essentials

Energy affordability (hardship) programs

The National Energy Retail Law (NSW) requires all energy retail-ers to have a customer hardship charter and affordability pro-gram which assists customers experiencing financial difficulty to manage their bills. These can usually be found on the retailer’s website or can be requested directly from the retailer.

Affordable payment plans

Customers experiencing difficulty paying their bill are generally considered to be experiencing energy affordability challenges or facing financial hardship. The hardship can be short, medium or long term. For those facing short or medium term challenges, an extension on their energy account payment date, a payment plan or emergency assistance can help get them back on track.

Read more of our essentials for community workers in our new factsheet available at ewon.com.au/factsheets.

If you are a community worker, you can help to negotiate an affordable payment plan on behalf of your client. Before contacting a retailer: • check to see if the customer’s affordability challenge is

short, medium or long term• decide if a financial counsellor’s assistance and assessment

is needed• calculate the customer’s average energy bills per quarter • review arrears owing on current or previous accounts• check with the customer what they can reasonably afford to

pay.

Winter warmer tips During the cooler months, power consumption increases as we stay warm inside our homes. Quarterly billing means that many households often won’t see their charges adding up until a few months later, so it's important to keep on top of your energy usage. Below are some tips on saving energy around the home during the winter months.

• Keep the heat in by blocking draughts with door snakes, curtains and other seals.

• Put on an extra layer of clothing or add another blanket on your bed.

• Use your appliances efficiently by getting into good habits like turning them off at the wall when they’re not in use. Standby power can account for more than 10% of household energy use.

• Hot or warm cycles on your washing machine use a lot of energy. Make significant savings by switching to cold water for laundry. And why not use nature’s own dryer – the great outdoors? If the weather doesn’t permit this, try drying your clothes in already heated rooms indoors.

• Clean filters in your air conditioners to ensure they operate efficiently.

• If you use a reverse cycle air conditioner for heating, set the temperature to 18-21°C. Every degree above this range can add up to 10% to your heating costs.

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Free Call 1800 246 545Free Fax 1800 821 291 Web ewon.com.au Email omb@ewon.com.au ABN 21079718915

We are now producing shorter newsletters more frequently. To keep the production costs down, we would like to reduce the number of copies we print. If you are happy to receive newsletters electronically, please send your preferred email address to news@ewon.com.au.

A note about our newsletter

Bring Your Bills days

We held Bring Your Bills days in Belmont, Maitland and Port Stephens in collaboration with Hunter Water, and in Woy Woy we helped 49 customers in one day — our biggest Bring Your Bills days ever!

We’re sad to announce that our regular monthly Bring Your Bills day in Mt Druitt has ended because of the closure of the Caroline Chisholm Centre, run by St Vincent de Paul. We hope to restart the program once our partners find new premises. In the meantime, we will continue to hold our monthly Bring Your Bills days in Blacktown in partnership with SydWest Multicultural Services.

We were out and about for NAIDOC Week, chatting to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities about our services at events in Campbelltown, Kurri Kurri, the Shoalhaven, Marrickville, Gosford, Redfern and Penrith.

Engaging with community

Visit EWON at an event near you

• Blacktown (SydWest) - first Friday of each month, 9.30am - 2.30pm

• Cessnock Bring Your Bills day and One Stop Shop - Thursday 30 August, 9.00am - 3.00pm

• Burwood Community Hub and One Stop Shop - Tuesday 4 September, 10.00am - 12.00pm

• Blacktown Community Services Expo- Wednesday 12 September, 10.00am - 2.00pm For more information, or to RSVP for an event, please visit ewon.com.au/events.

Our community outreach team have had a very busy period. In April, we participated in events in Richmond and Dee Why for Seniors Week and provided resources for other events in Sutherland, Lalor Park and Swansea. We also organised a marquee at the Royal Agricultural Show for a range of organisations that help seniors, including the Seniors Rights Service, the NSW Ombudsman and Fair Trading.

EWON has an extensive community outreach program and we’ve been extremely busy engaging with customers, community workers and other stakeholders. Below are some of our recent engagement highlights.

We also started a new collaboration with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, providing free energy and water training for housing managers and tenant representatives. The half day workshops are organised through the Community Housing Industry Association and help community workers understand energy and water issues and how they can help tenants manage their usage.

In May we shared a stall with the Financial Ombudsman Service at the Sydney Disability Expo. We also visited Bourke and Brewarrina for Law Week, where we participated in the last of a series of events with the Tenant Support and Education Project and Origin Energy. On our way, we stopped in Dubbo to join a Legal Aid support day.