A Kingsgrove man has earned an apology and $1.69 refund from Energy Australia

KINGSGROVE 70-year-old, Norman Pensabene, has struck a $1.69 win for the little bloke when Energy Australia refunded they amount they charged to send him his bill.

Norman Pensabene has received a refund on what he believed was an unfair fee on his power bill. Picture: Melvyn Knipe

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AN ELDERLY Kingsgrove resident has taken on ­Goliath and won a moral victory — a $1.69 refunded fee from Energy Australia.

Norman Pensabene, 70, discovered the fee for receiving a paper invoice on his last quarterly bill from Energy Australia.

Energy Australia introduced the fees last year but said customers would be exempt if they were “concession card holders, hardship customers, or visually impaired customers”.

Falling into this category, Mr Pensabene contacted the company in January but almost three months on, he had not received a reply.

After The Express contacted Energy Australia, the company said it had “made a mistake”.

“Based on what he told us we should have waived the fees,” an Energy Australia spokesman said.

“We’re sorry and would like to publicly apologise to Mr Pensabene. We have waived ongoing fees and credited his account for the charges he shouldn’t have paid.”

Energy Australia had to smash open the piggy bank to pay back Norman Pensabene.

But despite his victory, Mr Pensabene said nobody should be facing a fee, and the company was “double dipping” by charging customers an additional $1.91 to settle their accounts at Australia Post.

“Two dollars is nothing, but when you multiply it by all the customers, they’re getting a huge profit just for putting up a tax invoice that they’re legally required to do,” he said.

“Imagine shopping at Woolworths and being asked to pay $1.69 for a paper tax invoice docket.”

Origin Energy recently introduced a $1.75 fee for posted paper bills, and AGL customers face the same charges and a $2 fee for over-the-counter payments at Australia Post.

Canterbury state Labor MP Sophie Cotsis says it’s a “rort for our local ageing population” and is another cost for people who don’t have online facilities.

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“Alongside Adam Searle, the shadow minister for energy, we have asked questions of the minister on his actions to protect the people of NSW from this rort.

“He has not answered.

“(We) will pursue this in Parliament.”