Bear with me as I set the scene. I’m dealing with an issue at the moment where Origin Energy is trying to charge me for power used and not credit power generated by our solar. The issue was very obvious with their online system showing completely different information than was on the sent bill. Unfortunately, even when sending this information to Origin, they still didn’t see (or acknowledge) the evidence presented. After going back and forwards with a “specialist” but getting nowhere, I asked to escalate the issue. The response back was that I needed to contact my app provider or “However if you think this is not suitable I would recommend reaching out to the ombudsmen to find a suitable resolution for you to escalate this case further.”
Wow… so does Origin Energy sees the State Ombudsman as part of their service system?
I did get in touch with the Ombudsman and they contacted Origin who in turn have put me in contact with exactly the same “specialist” I asked to escalate it! Talk about Groundhog Day.
Anyway, the point is, when did corporation get so comfortable with cases going to the Ombudsman to the degree they call it an escalation?
I definitely don’t feel supported
If you are in Ausnet Services grid get a MyHomeEnergy account. I suspect most grid operators across the country have similar. To avoid lots of descriptive text it shows daily weekly, monthly, etc peak, offpeak, and solar + daily charge, ie your costs as seen by the grid operator, not by the retailer although they should be the same, and not filtered by an app. This data should Very Closely reflect your bill.
It is not an app and should take your evidence up a step.
One can also download a spreadsheet of use showing the same in tabular format but it is left to the viewer to compute the charges from it.
If you are having issues with origin, go to your distributor and they are required to supply (FOC) the last two years usage data (normally supplied in a spreadsheet format, csv) This is normally available as a request somewhere on the distributors website.
You would then be able to compare the bill usage against that the distributor has logged for you. NOTE I am assuming you have a smart meter.
If you have an analogue meter, unless you are/havebeen reading the meter yourself regularly you will not be able to get the information.
Thanks PhilT… I’ll check out MyHomeEnergy. It should be a pretty straight forward case as the bill says we exported no power over the Sept-Nov period but the same period in the previous year we exported enough that they credited us about $750, even after our usage.
The issue I was trying to highlight here is the way a non government company is using a public service as part of it’s customer services system. Normally when you escalate you get to management.
Interestingly, Origins policy in matters that have been referred to the Ombudsman is to put the same staff member back on the case once the Ombudsman has passed it back to Origin. Now I had no particular issue with the Origin staff member other than them not helping but what if I had? That would be very stressful for the customer.
They got back to me, same staff member (specialist), I told them if I was talking with her then how has this been escalated. She told me she’d have to check with “management”. I now have another “specialist” who had a “quick look” at my case and that everything supplied by them “already does look correct”.
Are banks going to start telling us to talk to the Banking Ombudsman if we have a complaint that their customer service should be able to handle? How much public money is being wasted by this kind of outsourcing?
Thanks Don2… Is Origin not the distributor? We were with Enova before but they shut down and we were moved to Origin. We stayed with Origin because: 1. We had a lot happening at the time and search for other suppliers was just another thing to deal with; and 2. We needed to get at least a year of solar data so we could get some kind of historical data (for situations like we’re in now).
Origin will be your retailer, not your ‘distributor’. The empirical data will come from your grid operator, often referred to in some areas as the ‘distributor’. Their specific functions seem to vary in different states possibly underpinning the different terminology?
From a net search, In Victoria it will be one of
- Citipower.
- Jemena.
- Powercor Australia.
- AusNet Services.
- United Energy Distribution.
In NSW
- Ausgrid
- Endeavour Energy
- Essential Energy
in Qld
- Energex
- Ergon
- Essential Energy (Goondiwindi only)
In SA
- SA Powernet (excepting some remote areas)
in NT
In TAS
- TasNetworks
I hope that is helpful, and that all of your exchanges with Origin have been in writing so you have a ‘paper trail’ as you go forward trying to resolve whatever is happening.
Thanks PhilT… I’ll check those out.
Oh yes, it’s all in writing… I won’t deal with them on the phone for exactly that reason.
I ended up taking more screen shots of their data, putting it into a pdf and sending it to them… they responded “I’ve got an even easier solution!” then agreed I was right but they didn’t have the data until just then (even though I supplied this right at the beginning of the issue).
I wonder how the Ombudsman will feel about the time wasted.
Maxim
you should also have lodged an official complaint with the ombudsman. These show against the retailer and it is in their interest to get you to agree to the “resolution” of the complaint and thus close it. You should NOT do so until it is resolved to your satisfaction. By lodging a complaint it is effectively escalated and must be resolved by the retailer. You can also have the bill piut on hold until the dispute is resolved and the bill corrected. NOTE that the retailer is the “seller” of your electricity which is supplied by your distributor and the meter is normally read by a third company. Ultimately the retailler is responsible for the accuracy of the bills and you shouldnt deal direct with the meter reading co. and the distributor other than placing a usage request to them usually on their website.
Some general advice, while it could be a billing issue which Origin is investigating, issues could arise from the metering company which reads the meter. Data collected may have had a corrupted data set or not passed on exports to the retailer. It could be other things as well.
One thing to check is the bill wasn’t an estimate rather than actual readings. If it was an estimate, a retailer may chose not to estimate solar exports and any actual solar exports should be credited to the next bill.
It could also fault with the meter (not recording exports), fault with the inverter (such as voltage not higher than grid which means that electricity won’t flow through the meter for export), the solar breaker/isolator on the switchboard is tripped or faulty or your area has been export limited by the distribution network operator (for more recent inverters, they can shutdown export to the grid to protect the grid). It might be worth ruling these out as well as some of these won’t be the responsibility of the retailer.
Something else to watch is some of the generous, legacy FIT cease in coming years. This means those who have been getting up to $0.60/kW will cease and the market rate FIT will apply. This will result in a significant reduction in the amount of FITs accrued. One will need to check their original connection agreements for cessation dates.
Origin apparently agreed @maxim was correct once the ‘State Ombudsman’ (EWON?) was involved. It could have been many things in hindsight but when Origin’s online data did not reflect their own bill and that did not raise any concern at Origin, that is problem 1. They should have accepted ‘something is amiss’ and investigated more than superficially and then dismissing the claim made.
Since …
The specific problem with Origin has been resolved but the manner in which it was handled and then fobbed off to the State Ombudsman reflects the title of the topic.
A reality is most Ombudsman services, EWON or EWOV as examples, are funded by their constituencies (such as the utility industry) not by government.
https://www.ewon.com.au/content/Document/EWON's%20funding%20model.pdf
One can thus conclude government is not funding or engaging sector complaint resolution although government legislates or develops mandatory frameworks or codes to be followed.
@maxim, OK to close your topic with that?
I was slightly heartened by Don2’s message that these complaints show against the retailer until I saw your comment about industry funded PhilT.
I honestly thought the Ombudsman was Government oversight not private sector driven… no wonder Origin were happy to pass it over, it’s almost like another department for organisations that size.
So who polices this for the Public then? (rhetorically)
Happy to close the topic. I hope it’s been of interest to others. I will definitely be moving from Origin.
While the Ombudsman’s office is Government legislated, the funding I think has rightly been put on the Industry or Industries (Businesses) that the Office oversees. It does not mean that an Ombudsman is beholding to the funders, think of it as a tax/levy/royalty they are legally bound to pay regardless of what outcomes occur.
Just because we pay tax does not mean we all have a right to privileged treatment, we are treated as per the tax laws that Governments have enacted, this is I understand the same for the Energy Ombudsman. At one stage I held reservations about how this occurred but discussion with my elected representatives has allayed those fears.
It is perhaps the laws under which they are empowered that could lack the teeth we often desire, I still am often despairing at ACCC outcomes as an example of one oversight organisation that I believe should be better funded and more aggressive.
Likewise, and thanks for the reply. I’ll close this one and any related or ancillary issues can be continued in their own topics depending on interest.
One will be about Ombudsmen Services.
