Victoria’s Energy and Water Ombudsman Catherine Wolthuizen says rise in complaints a sign of people feeling the financial strain

There has been a sharp rise in power disconnections as people battle the cost-of-living crisis.

An increasing number of Victorians are having the power cut off as they struggle with the cost-of-living crisis.

Victoria’s Energy and Water Ombudsman Catherine Wolthuizen has revealed the flood of complaints being made to her office in relation to rising bills, electricity rates and unlawful disconnections.

Last week, the power watchdog’s office received 434 complaints, which Ms Wolthuizen said was undeniably a sign of more people feeling financial strain.

“As you would expect, this is largely being driven by concerns that households and consumers have around affordability,” she said.

An increasing number of Victorians are having the power cut off.

“What we are seeing is situations where households are feeling the financial pressure they are becoming more sensitive. They want to check their bills … it’s not so much set and forget on the direct debit … we’re definitely seeing that flow through in the type of complaints.”

In particular, Ms Wolthuizen told the Herald Sun exclusively there had been “a steep increase in disconnections complaints”.

“We’ve seen these cases jump from 25 in April up to 50 in June and we are taking these complaints very seriously because it obviously has a really huge impact on people, especially going into winter.”

Ms Wolthuizen reminded Victorians that there were strong protections for consumers when it came to having the power cut off unlawfully and she urged anyone who believes this has happened to them to complain.

“Generally compensation can amount to $500 per day that a person is disconnected,” she said.

Last year, with the help of the VEWO about 50 consumers received payouts of between $500-$8000.

Ms Wolthuizen added that in rare cases, energy providers had been forced to pay $85,000 compensation to consumers for wrongful disconnection in Victoria.

The rise in complaints has coincided with an increasing number of Victorians registering for hardship plans in the bid to keep the lights on.

In response to cost-of-living pressures, energy retailers such as Origin Energy and Energy Australia have revamped bill hardship programs, making it easier for people to access help.

A Victorian government spokesman said the state had moved to protect families as much as possible and that there was assistance for struggling families in the current crisis.

“In 2019 we introduced the Payment Difficulty Framework, stopping energy companies from disconnecting anyone who contacts their retailer for help,” he said. “This and other energy fairness reforms have halved the number of disconnections after they doubled under the former Liberal government.

“No state has offered more energy bill relief than Victoria, with two rounds of the Power Saving Bonus since July 2022 providing $500 in direct bill relief in addition to the new commonwealth rebates for households on a concession.”

Anyone experiencing an energy or water issue in Victoria can call 1800 500 509.