Bills power complaints
Surge in calls from Far North to watchdog
PROBLEMS plaguing Cairns energy users have catapulted the Far North into the top 10 Queensland regions making complaints to the state’s energy industry watchdog.
And the Cairns local government area ranked second highest in the state outside the South East for referrals to the Queensland Energy and Water Ombudsman in the 2017/18 financial year.
The ombudsman’s annual report identified 108 causes for complaint to the energy regulator, an increase from 96 in the 2016/17 financial year.
Of the three utilities presided over by the regulator, electricity complaints trumped those of gas and water statewide and increased more than 33 per cent on the previous financial year.
The Cairns region was in the top 10 local government areas that contacted the ombudsman and made up 2 per cent of Queensland complaints.
Co-ordinator of Cairnsbased Queensland Electricity Users Network (QEUN) Jennifer Brownie said the report revealed evidence of a “deepening and widening” electricity crisis across the state.
“(And) it shows that households and businesses are taking a good, hard look at their power bills because they can’t afford them,” she said.
“Power bills used to be something you just paid and now, because people can’t pay them, they are questioning everything in their power bill and they are obviously finding things that are not correct.”
Energy and Water Ombudsman Jane Pires confirmed billing as the single biggest issue highlighted by the report.
“High bills, billing errors, problems with estimated bills, and errors with rebates and concessions were among the top billing complaints we received,” she said.
Residential grievances made up 95.3 per cent of all complaints across Queensland.
On the Atherton Tablelands 20 complaints were made to the ombudsman; complaints dropped in the Cassowary Coast, which recorded four grievances; and the Port Douglas Shire recorded none.
Ms Brownie said Ergon Energy in North Queensland had a near monopoly on the electricity supply industry and was “exercising their power” to the detriment of the consumer.
“The only entity that can drop power prices for households and businesses today is the Queensland Government,” she said.
“The Queensland Government needs to get in touch with the stresses of households and businesses caused by their billion-dollar profits from electricity assets.”
Sixty-five per cent of power-generation assets are owned by the State Government, which has increased the power price from 63¢/kWh to 99¢/kWh, according to QEUN.