Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Neil Mallon: Utilities Dispute Commissioner on the updated transparency rules for power companies

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Neil Mallon: Utilities Dispute Commissioner on the updated transparency rules for power companies · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The electricity authority, updating the rules for your power bill,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: clearer bills, playing language, a requirement that you're on the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: best plan for your usage. Neil Mellon is Utilities Disputes
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  Speaker 1: Commissioner and CEO of ME this morning. Now, good morning,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning Ryan. Will these make any difference to what
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  Speaker 1: we're actually paying on the bills?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Look, I think they will long term because what
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  Speaker 2: they will do is reduce some of the inefficiencies in
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the system. I think, particularly for consumers who get caught
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: up in errors with their metering or their billing and
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  Speaker 2: face a large back or that will make a real
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: difference for those consumers.
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  Speaker 1: Is it going to be easier for us to understand?
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're pretty easy to understand, now, aren't they.
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  Speaker 2: Oh look, I think there's difficulties between different retailers understanding plans.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: We get a lot of complaints about you not understanding usage,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: not understanding how much people are paying for their bills.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I think having some standard things will really help consumers.
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  Speaker 2: It will also promote switching, It will reduce the complaints
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  Speaker 2: that come through to us when we deal with them,
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  Speaker 2: and it will make it easier for us to sort
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  Speaker 2: of resolve those complaints with consumers as well, So I
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: think they're positive changes.
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  Speaker 1: Neil, there's going to be a cap on how far
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  Speaker 1: back the energy companies can hit you with a backdated charge.
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  Speaker 1: Do you deal with a lot of disputes about that?
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  Speaker 1: How far back are we talking?
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  Speaker 2: Look, we're talking about it being reduced to six months,
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  Speaker 2: which is a really big shift. We at Utilities Suites
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  Speaker 2: deal with around about fourteen thousand complaints a year, and
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  Speaker 2: last year we dealt with abound one hundred two hundred
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  Speaker 2: complaints dealing with really specific backbill issues and it didn't
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  Speaker 2: sound like a lot, but the average bill for a
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  Speaker 2: consumer was around twenty three hundred. That's for a household.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: For a business it was eighteen thousand, and you're dealing with,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: in some cases, people getting hit with that bill in
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: one go and it being deducted from their account. So
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: it's a significant change that we've been pushing for for
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  Speaker 2: a couple of years. And to be fair, some retailers
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: have been really positive and worked with utility spits to
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  Speaker 2: reduce the amount voluntarily that they would go back, but
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  Speaker 2: we were seeing differences between retailers. We were seeing consumers
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  Speaker 2: getting really impacted by this. We've been pushing for that
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  Speaker 2: change for the last couple of years and it's positive
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  Speaker 2: to see it being right.
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  Speaker 1: Neil, appreciate your time. This moowying Neil mallon Utilities disputes
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  Speaker 1: commissioner and CEO.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 2:11
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• 2:14
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