Victorian regulator awards payouts to customers for unfair disconnections

ENERGY giant AGL and other retailers have been ordered to pay compensation for wrongful disconnections of Victorian customers.

A VICTORIAN gas customer who was unfairly disconnected for almost four months has been awarded $56,612 compensation in one of the biggest payout rulings of its type.

The state’s energy regulator recently ordered AGL to pay the man for being without supply for 113 days, five hours and 22 minutes last year.

AGL unsuccessfully tried to limit the compensation to as little as one day of disruption, a ruling to be published today reveals.

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ESC chairman Ron Ben-David said: “If a customer has been disconnected wrongfully we expect them to be reconnected straight away … The legislation makes that very clear”.

A Victorian gas customer off supply for 113 days is among those to receive wrongful disconnection payments.

The amount is among $106,303 that electricity and gas retailers have paid Victorians as a result of wrongful disconnection cases referred to the ESC this year.

The regulator makes decisions when disputes can’t be resolved by the energy ombudsman.

It said this year it had instructed AGL to pay a total $70,599 to five customers; Red Energy $8296 for two cases; EnergyAustralia $1512 for four; and Lumo $615 for one.

Retailers had also agreed to pay $25,281 in relation to 11 other cases before a formal decision.

The recent AGL gas wrongful disconnection ruling is the highest since APG was in 2015 ordered to pay almost $70,000 to a customer cut off due to a defective disconnection warning notice.

A Victorian gas customer off supply for 113 days is among those to receive wrongful disconnection payments.

Consumers can get $500 per day of wrongful disconnection. The amount is capped at $3500 if a retailer is not contacted within 14 days.

Before disconnecting because of unpaid bills, retailers must take steps such as proper reminder notices, ‘best endeavours’ to contact customers, and reasonable payment plan offers.

According to the ESC’s decision, AGL acknowledged wrongful disconnection, but disputed the amount it should pay.

Supply was cut on February 22 last year when the customer owed $1619.67. It was restored on June 15, a day after the Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria was contacted.

Victoria’s energy regulator recently ordered AGL to pay a man for being without supply for 113 days, five hours and 22 minutes last year.

AGL argued that compensation should be limited to up to February 22, the date it advised how to resolve a missing payment issue and get supply reconnected.

But the ESC ruled that AGL had “no basis for support in law”. It also added: “ … the ‘actual disruption’ to a household from the disconnection of gas supply does not cease simply because the customer is told by a retailer to provide proof of missing payments or to pay the amount outstanding or to make a ‘decent payment today and enter into an instalment plan for the balance’.”

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@KarenCollierHS