Complaints about high power bills across the Hunter have increased by two thirds in the past year, according to new data from the Energy and Water Ombudsman NSW.
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From October to December 2017, there were 199 complaints about high bills from Hunter residents to the Ombudsman, up from 119 in the same quarter in 2016. Across the state, high billing complaints jumped 42.8 per cent.
Hunter complaints against electricity retailers also increased from 325 in the last quarter of 2016 to 447 in the same period in 2017 – a rise of 37.5 per cent.
Total electricity service complaints, which also included those related to distributor, exempt retailer and general inquiries, rose 34.8 per cent across the region.
The Energy and Water Ombudsman’s Janine Young said increased media and regulatory spotlight on energy, retail pricing and affordability could be a factor in the rise in complaints.
In May 2017, the NSW Government finalised the sale of its electricity assets under a privatisation plan it took to the 2015 election. The privatisation followed a deregulation of energy prices in 2014.
Electrical Trades Union secretary Dave McKinley said he was not surprised complaints had leapt in NSW.
“The Liberal and National Parties went to an election promising that consumers would be better off if the State’s electricity sector was privatised,” Mr McKinley said.
“For all the promises of better services and lower prices, private owners of power assets have shown they are much more interested in increasing profits by slashing jobs and reducing services, rather than maintaining the electricity network as an essential service.
“The only way to solve the problem of skyrocketing bills and falling service levels is to return the electricity supply chain to public ownership.”
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) reviewed the NSW retail electricity market for 2016-17. It estimated that residential electricity retail prices increased by an average of 14 per cent at the start of 2017-18.
“These price increases were driven by significant increases in the wholesale costs of supplying electricity, which have more than doubled in the last two years,” the tribunal’s report stated.
However, it also found average annual bills for residential customers were around the same as they were in 2013-14 before prices were deregulated.
Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
