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Solar and Smart Meter
Update
1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
Released January 2014
2
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
CONTENTS
1. Solar and Smart Meter Cases ............................................................................... 3 1.1. Smart Meter Cases ................................................................................................................... 4 1.2. Solar Cases................................................................................................................................ 4
2. SMART METER UPDATE ....................................................................................... 6
2.1. EWOV Smart Meter Cases Increase by 34% ............................................................................. 6 2.2. Monthly Trends ........................................................................................................................ 6 2.3. Case Registration Snapshot ...................................................................................................... 7 2.4. Top 10 Smart Meter Case Issues .............................................................................................. 7 2.5. Smart Meter Case Study........................................................................................................... 9
3. SOLAR UPDATE .................................................................................................. 10
3.1. EWOV Solar Cases Drop by 20% ............................................................................................. 10 3.2. Monthly Trends ...................................................................................................................... 10 3.3. Case Registration Snapshot .................................................................................................... 11 3.4. Top 10 Solar Issues ................................................................................................................. 11 3.5. Solar Case Study ..................................................................................................................... 13
APPENDIX - GRAPHS AND TABLES ............................................................................. 14
Graph 1: Monthly Trends - Smart Meter Cases ............................................................................. 14 Graph 2: Monthly Trends - Solar Cases .......................................................................................... 14 Table 1: Case Registration Snapshot - Smart Meter Cases ............................................................ 15 Table 2: Case Registration Snapshot - Solar Cases......................................................................... 16
PUTTING THIS REPORT IN CONTEXT .......................................................................... 17
GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................ 18
This report provides stakeholders with an analysis of the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria)
(EWOV)'s solar and Advanced Meter (Smart Meter) complaint data, including case issues, case studies and outcomes.
This report is uploaded onto EWOV's website.
3
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
This report details the solar and Smart Meter complaint issues presented by Victorian
energy customers to the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) (EWOV) for the period of
1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013.
1. Solar and Smart Meter Cases
The graph below indicates the number of solar and Smart Meter-related cases EWOV
received during the period of 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2013.
The graph on page five provides a three-year overview of the solar and Smart Meter case
trends against a timeline of the significant changes that have occurred in the energy
industry in Victoria over this period, including:
three Feed-in Tariff (FiT) schemes closing
Smart Meter Cases
Solar Cases 0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
Oct to Dec 2012
Jan to Mar 2013 April to June
2013 Jul to Sep
2013 Oct to Dec 2013
1,601
1,374 1,206 1,246
1,667
2,807 2,918 3,239
2,669
2,144
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Cases Received By Quarter
1 October 2012 to 31 December 2013
Smart Meter Cases Solar Cases
4
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
the Victorian Government completing a review of the Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI) rollout and confirming it would continue
flexible pricing commencing
the Victorian Government considering options to manage ongoing consumer refusal
to have a Smart Meter installed.
It is interesting to note the impact that the above changes have had on EWOV case
handling, which is explained in further detail below.
1.1. Smart Meter Cases
EWOV continues to receive a significant amount of Smart Meter cases. Case levels again
peaked in the October to December 2013 quarter, with this recent amount of cases
comparative to the large number received in the October to December 2012 quarter.
During the October 2012 to December 2012 quarter, EWOV received a significant number of
calls from customers - following the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) December
2012 meeting - querying whether the Victorian rollout was still mandatory. COAG had at
the time decided to introduce a non-compulsory national rollout of Smart Meters, however,
this decision did not impact the Victorian Government's policy for a mandatory rollout of
Smart Meters across Victoria. Similarly, media coverage in December 2013 may have also
contributed to an increase in Smart Meter cases in the current quarter. The Victorian Energy
Minister's recent announcement that consumers may be charged a fee instead of having
their electricity supply disconnected for not having a Smart Meter installed, has received
significant coverage.
1.2. Solar Cases
EWOV continued to receive large numbers of solar complaints in the current reporting
period about retailers not applying, or incorrectly applying, FiTs to customers’ accounts.
However, this number has significantly dropped compared to the same periods (October to
December) in 2011 and 2012. Following the announcement in September 2011, that the
Premium Feed-in Tariff (PFiT) scheme would close to new applicants, complaint numbers to
EWOV escalated. Similarly, following the announcement that the Transitional Feed-in Tariff
(TFiT) and the Standard Feed-in Tariff (SFiT) would close by the end of 2012, EWOV received
an increase in solar cases from customers concerned about missing out on the scheme prior
to closure. However, the closure of PFiT continues to impact current case receipt and was
still found to be the most common solar issue in the October to December 2013 quarter.
5
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
6
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
2. SMART METER UPDATE
2.1. EWOV Smart Meter Cases Increase by 34%
During this reporting period, EWOV received a 34% increase in Smart Meter cases compared
to the previous quarter (1 July 2013 to 30 September 2013), with 1,667 cases received in
total. This was a similar number compared to the October to December 2012 quarter (1,601
cases).
Descriptions of case levels: Enquiry, Referral, Real Time Resolution and Investigation are available in the
glossary on page 18.
2.2. Monthly Trends
During this reporting period, EWOV received 1,667 Smart Meter cases - the majority of
these cases were resolved as Referrals1 and were registered against electricity retailers
1 76% of Smart Meter cases received between 1 October 2013 and 31 December 2013 were handled as
Referrals, with 61% handled as Assisted Referrals and a further 15% handled as Unassisted Referrals. Descriptions of Assisted and Unassisted Referrals are available in the glossary on page 18.
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
Oct to Dec 2012 Jan to Mar
2013 April to June 2013 Jul to Sep
2013 Oct to Dec 2013
54 26
42 47
32
1,212
1,038 910
911 1,259
127
115
104 106
151
208
195
150 182
225
EWOV Smart Meter Cases Received By Quarter 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2013
Enquiry Referral RTR Investigation
7
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
(77%). A further 22% were registered against electricity distributors2. Appendix: Graph 1 on
page 14 shows Smart Meter cases received by month and case type.
2.3. Case Registration Snapshot
Notably, the highest number of Smart Meter cases continues to involve Retailer 14
customers in the Distributor 4 distribution area (348 cases). This was followed by Retailer
16 customers who resided in the Distributor 3 distribution area (143 cases). Table one in the
appendix on page 15 shows the case numbers registered against each retailer categorised by
individual distribution areas.
2.4. Top 10 Smart Meter Case Issues
Of the 1,667 Smart Meter cases received in this reporting period, 2,458 issues were
registered3. The majority of these issues were about billing (62%), with 21% of cases
specifically relating to high bills4 and a further 9% of cases were about the installation of a
Smart Meter. Of the 527 cases where a customer raised concerns about a high bill5, 10%
were investigated by EWOV and revealed that:
in many cases, billing was based on actual meter reads and often showed fluctuation in accordance with seasonal patterns
the majority of meters tested were found to be operating correctly and within Australian Standards
some billing had been based on estimated meter reads, and required re-billing based on actual meter reads.
During the current reporting period, EWOV also received 28 cases about flexible pricing
issues. The majority of these complaints were resolved as Referrals (75%) and were
registered against electricity retailers (86%). Customers who contacted EWOV about flexible
pricing advised that they were:
experiencing difficulties obtaining either their interval consumption data to use My Power Planner6 or information about the electricity retailer's flexible pricing offers
2 A further 1% of all Smart Meter cases were not allocated against an EWOV scheme participant.
3 A case can have more than one issue.
4 This issue may not be directly attributed to the Smart Meter being installed or not functioning correctly.
5 EWOV's high bill investigation is a process of elimination to determine whether the provider’s assets have
caused the high bill. This process ensures customers have been billed accurately with the meter correctly recording usage. 6 http://www.switchon.vic.gov.au/tools-and-calculators/my-power-planner
8
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
dissatisfied that a Smart Meter was either not installed or had not been reconfigured so that a flexible pricing offer was available to them
seeking to revert to a flat tariff as they felt flexible pricing was not advantageous based on their consumption.
EWOV is continuing to monitor case receipt of customer concerns involving flexible pricing.
EWOV also received 71 cases during the current reporting period where customers
complained about meter readings. Of these cases, 44% related to customer concerns about:
inconsistencies between reads on their Smart Meter and the billing
incorrect or no meter reads taken at the time the Smart Meter was installed
no start or end reads on billing
a read of zero on bills
obtaining reads so that data could be issued and flexible pricing investigated7.
7
67% of these cases were registered as Referrals (Unassisted or Assisted). EWOV did not investigate any of these matters and is limited to hearing only the customer’s ‘side of the story’.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Provision > Existing Connection > Supply Upgrade > Other
Billing > Meter > Reading
Billing > Backbill > Other
Billing > Delay
Billing > Error > Other
Credit > Disconnection / Restriction > Arrears > Imminent
Billing > Estimation > High
Billing > Tariff > Loss of Off Peak Rates
Provision > Existing Connection > Meter Exchange
Billing > High > General
62
71
78
78
84
98
115
133
231
527
Top 10 Smart Meter Issues 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
9
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
2.5. Smart Meter Case Study
The case study below demonstrates a customer's concern with a high and potentially
erroneous billing of a Smart Meter8.
A customer’s story
8 The Smart Meter case study (2013/10688) in the previous Update, should have advised that the retailer could
not place start and end reads on bills because they were not received by the distributor and not because the property had a Smart Meter.
Customer’s statement
The customer was dissatisfied with Retailer 14 regarding high electricity bills that she believed were the result of erroneous billing. Since the installation of her Smart Meter, the price per Kilowatt Hour (kWh) on her bill had increased. She had contacted Retailer 14 about this and was advised that the meter may be faulty. The customer made numerous attempts to resolve the matter directly with Retailer 14 and had also contacted her electricity distributor, Distributor 4, to inspect the meter, but remained dissatisfied that the matter was not resolved. As a result, she contacted EWOV and an Assisted Referral was raised. However, Retailer 14 did not respond to the customer in the required timeframe, so EWOV escalated the matter to an Investigation. Investigation EWOV requested copies of the customer’s bills and upon review noticed that start and end meter reads were missing on one bill and there was a small discrepancy with the meter reads on another bill. EWOV also completed a system search to determine when the Smart Meter was installed at the customer’s property. This search indicated the meter was exchanged to a Smart Meter on 22 June 2012, and that a further change or adjustment was made to the meter on 17 January 2013. Retailer 14 confirmed this installation date, but advised it was configured as a basic meter until 17 January 2013. On this date, as part of the Smart Meter rollout, it was reconfigured to operate as a manually read interval meter. Retailer 14 provided a copy of all meter reads and EWOV confirmed that they were actual meter reads, not estimates, and that the reads matched the bills issued to the customer. Retailer 14 advised that price increases occurred on 1 July 2012 and 1 January 2013. Bills affected by these price increases were broken into relevant time periods to ensure correct rates were applied. EWOV reviewed bills for the affected periods and confirmed they had been issued correctly. A meter test was also conducted on 13 May 2013, which found the meter was functioning within Australian Standards.
Outcome Retailer 14 apologised for the customer service issues and applied a $100.00 credit to the customer’s account in recognition. It also advised it would not apply any termination fees if the customer decided to transfer to a different retailer. Retailer 14 confirmed the account balance with all payments and credits applied was $767.81 and it offered a three-month extension for payment of the arrears. The customer was satisfied with EWOV’s investigation, the credit and payment extension, and the case was closed.
2013/42946: Retailer: Retailer 14. Distributor: Distributor 4 Opened as Assisted Referral: 26 July 2013 Re-opened as Investigation: 13 August 2013 Closed: 15 October 2013 Issue: Customer dissatisfied with high and erroneous billing since installation of Smart Meter
10
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
3. SOLAR UPDATE
3.1. EWOV Solar Cases drop by 20%
EWOV received 2,144 solar cases during the reporting period from 1 October 2013 to 31
December 2013. This is a 20% drop in case receipt when compared to the previous quarter
(1 July 2013 to 30 September 2013). This is also a 13% decrease in cases recorded in the
same period in 2012 (1 October 2012 to 31 December 2012).
Descriptions of case levels: Enquiry, Referral, Real Time Resolution and Investigation are in the glossary on
page 18.
3.2. Monthly Trends
From 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013, EWOV received 2,144 solar cases and
registered 3,087 solar case issues9. 39% of these cases were received in October 2013, with
a further 33% in November 2013 and 28% in December 2013. The majority of these cases
were registered as Referrals (67%)10 and 16% required investigation by EWOV. Table two in
the appendix on page 14 shows solar meter cases received by month and case type.
9 Please note that a case can have more than one issue.
10 58% handled as Assisted Referrals and a further 10% handled as Unassisted Referrals. Descriptions of
Assisted and Unassisted Referrals are available in the glossary on page 18.
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
Oct to Dec 2012
Jan to Mar 2013 April to June
2013 Jul to Sep
2013 Oct to Dec 2013
127 106
144 124
129
2,033 1,963 2,268
1,838
1,446
262 290
302
268
234
385 559 525
439
335
EWOV Solar Meter Cases Received By Quarter 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2013
Enquiry Referral RTR Investigation
11
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
3.3. Case Registration Snapshot
During this reporting period, 91% of all solar cases were registered against electricity
retailers. Retailer 14 accounted for 31% of all solar cases, however, this represented an 8%
drop in cases compared to the previous quarter (1 July 2013 to 30 September 2013). Cases
regarding electricity distributors accounted for 4% of all solar cases11. During the current
reporting period, 100 cases were found to be out of EWOV's jurisdiction because the
complaint was about a private solar installer. In these instances, customers were referred
to Consumer Affairs Victoria. Table two in the appendix on page 16 shows the case numbers
registered against each retailer categorised by individual distribution areas.
3.4. Top 10 Solar Issues
During the current reporting period, 32% of all solar cases received involved Feed-in Tariff
(FiT) issues. This included the closed Premium Feed-in Tariff (PFiT), Transitional Feed-in
Tariff (TFiT), Standard Feed-in Tariff (SFiT) schemes and the new General Feed-in Tariff
(GFiT)12. The most common solar issue reported to EWOV during this period was about the
PFiT not being applied (306). Billing issues in total accounted for 70% of solar cases with
provision issues accounting for a further 12%.
11
A further 5% of all solar cases were not allocated against a scheme participant. 12
163 of these cases were registered under the FiT issue - No Feed-in Tariff (NoFiT). This means that the customer is unclear about the FiT they want to receive or they have no preference about which FiT is applicable.
96
104
117
126
128
181
181
227
235
306
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Credit > Disconnection / Restriction > Arrears > Imminent
General Enquiry > Energy / Water
Billing > Tariff > General Feed In > Not Applied
Billing > Delay
Billing > Tariff > No Feed In > Not applied
Billing > Tariff > Transitional Feed-in Tariff > Not Applied
Billing > Error > Other
Provision > Existing Connection > Supply Upgrade > Delay
Billing > High > General
Billing > Tariff > Premium Feed In > Not Applied
Top 10 Solar Issues 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
12
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
Of these FiT cases:
82% were handled as Referrals, 6% were resolved via EWOV's Real Time Resolution
Process and a further 11% required an Investigation13.
98% of these cases were registered against an electricity retailer, with 64% of all FiT
cases registered against Retailer 14, Retailer 16 and Retailer 12 combined.
81% involved a FiT not being applied, a further 11% involved issues with the amount of
generation applied, 6% related to the contract, and the remaining 2% related to the
FiTs being charged instead of credited.
Customers expressed concern about whether their electricity accounts had been
updated to include a FiT. Many were concerned because they had not received bills
for several billing cycles or because previous bills had FiTs applied but recent billing did
not. In other cases, there were longstanding issues regarding the solar process, which
did not appear to have been completed correctly, resulting in customers missing out
on the FiT they had applied for.
EWOV also received 11 cases about the pre-approval process. These customers were
concerned about the time it took for this process to be completed, and the
distributor's decision to decline approval of the solar system's installation. One
customer contacted EWOV for independent advice about whether the distributor's
pre-approval process was allowable.
13
1% were lodged as Enquiries. 14% of Investigations received during the quarter are not yet resolved.
13
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
3.5. Solar Case Study
The following EWOV case study demonstrates issues that customers sometimes face when
seeking approval of their solar system.
A customer’s story
Customer’s statement The customer was dissatisfied that he could not install the size of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system that he
wanted at his property. He had ordered and partially paid for a solar PV system, which was capable of generating five Kilowatts (kW) of electricity. He contacted Distributor 3 to arrange the installation but it advised he could only have a three kW solar PV system installed. Distributor 3 advised the customer that he would need to upgrade to three-phase metering if he wanted to install the five kW system. The customer was dissatisfied with this information, particularly given one of his neighbours living a few doors down had a five kW system in operation on a single phase meter. As a result, the customer contacted EWOV and an Assisted Referral was raised. However, as Distributor 3 did not respond to the customer within the required timeframe, the customer recontacted EWOV and the matter was escalated to an Investigation.
EWOV's Investigation
Distributor 3 assessed the customer’s application in conjunction with the capacity of the transformer to which his electricity supply was connected. It confirmed that every connection request is assessed on a case-by-case basis and takes into account the property’s supply connection details. The result of this assessment was that the transformer supplying the customer's property was not capable of supporting a new solar PV connection load greater than three kW generating capacity. Consequently, the customer’s request to install a five kW system was rejected.
Outcome Distributor 3 advised the customer could arrange for augmentation works to the transformer supplying his
property to increase its capacity to ensure the continued supply of all connected properties. However, this would be at the customer's cost. EWOV confirmed that this advice was consistent with industry guidelines. The customer accepted that the pre-approval request and process had been completed appropriately by Distributor 3, and the reasons for his unsuccessful application were deemed to be in accordance with its obligations.
2013/53053: Distributor: Distributor 3 Opened as Assisted Referral 2 September 2013 Re-opened as Investigation 13 September 2013 : Closed 22 November 2013 Issue: Distributor does not approve customer's proposed solar system size
14
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
APPENDIX - GRAPHS AND TABLES
Graph 1: Monthly Trends - Smart Meter Cases
Graph 2: Monthly Trends - Solar Cases
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Oct-13 Nov-13
Dec-13
13 8
11
507
403
349
48
51
52
83
70
72
EWOV Smart Meter Cases by Month 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
Enquiry Referral RTR Investigation
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Oct-13
Nov-13
Dec-13
47 39
43
575
492
379
82
70
82
133
104
98
EWOV Solar Cases by Month 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
Enquiry Referral RTR Investigations
15
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
Table 1: Case Registration Snapshot - Smart Meter Cases
Provider
Distribution area
Total Distributor 5
Distributor 1
Distributor 3
Distributor 4
Distributor 2
Not allocated
Inter state
Retailer 14 22 37 75 348 70 3 555
Retailer 16 39 15 143 104 49 4 354
Retailer 12 13 70 15 46 150 6 300
Distributor 2
209
209
Retailer 5 4 7 40 43 66
160
Distributor 4
140
140
Retailer 15 6 14 19 60 21 3 123
Distributor 1
107
107
Retailer 19 4 7 28 37 6 1 83
Retailer 18 2 7 19 25 9 2 64
Retailer 1 5 8 15 21 6
55
Retailer 17 2 6 4 26 12 1 51
Distributor 3
49
49
Retailer 7 2 9 7 18 7
43
Retailer 8 2
18 21 1
42
Retailer 3 3 3 14 4 10
34
Retailer 4
4 7 17 3
31
Not allocated
2 1 2 3 13 2 23
Retailer 2
3 13 1
17
Distributor 5 14
14
Retailer 9
2
2
Retailer 11 2
2
Total 120 296 457 927 623 33 2 2,458
16
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
Table 2: Case Registration Snapshot - Solar Cases
Provider
Distribution area
Total Distributor 5
Distributor 1
Distributor 3
Distributor 4
Distributor 2
Not allocated
Interstate
Retailer 14 21 113 270 583 85 8 1 1,081
Retailer 16 12 29 214 108 59 8 3 433
Retailer 12 3 75 50 95 139 2 364
Retailer 5 2 7 53 42 48
152
Retailer 15
19 48 57 21 1 146
Retailer 18 6 7 42 53 19 4 131
Not allocated
3 13 32 27 17 34 1 127
Retailer 17
6 35 63 5
109
Retailer 7 1 4 33 44 14
96
Retailer 19
3 32 40 16 2 93
Retailer 8
9 29 40 14
92
Retailer 1 1 7 16 27 12
63
Retailer 3
10 12 21 11
54
Distributor 4
51
51
Retailer 2
3 1 16 9 1 30
Distributor 2
28
28
Distributor 3
15
15
Retailer 10
2 8
10
Retailer 4
6 2 1
9
Retailer 11
2
2
Distributor 5 1
1
Total 50 305 890 1,279 498 60 5 3,087
17
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
PUTTING THIS REPORT IN CONTEXT
The following criteria need to be taken into account when reviewing this report. EWOV’s analysis is limited by its scope
EWOV only examines the cases it receives. For example, EWOV is not always privy to the number of solar customers a retailer may service during and prior to this reporting period. Also, EWOV does not know about the efficiency of each retailer’s internal complaint management procedures. This affects EWOV’s ability to analyse trends and examine the ‘bigger picture’ cause of complaints. Most cases are Referred complaints
This report is based on data taken from enquiries and complaints. Complaints are categorised as either Unassisted Referrals, Assisted Referrals, Real Time Resolutions or Investigations. Please refer to the glossary on page 18 for definitions. EWOV does not investigate Referred Complaints and is limited to hearing only the customer’s ‘side of the story’.
Customers sometimes recontact EWOV
Customers sometimes recontact EWOV after previously being referred back to their company because their concerns remain unresolved. This can result in EWOV registering an Assisted Referral after a previous Unassisted Referral, or registering an Investigation if the matter remained unresolved after an Assisted Referral. Customers may have complaints relating to more than one issue
Based on the customer’s statement, EWOV sometimes registers two issues for the one case – for example, estimated billing and the PFiT not being applied to an account. EWOV staff register cases by fuel (electricity, gas, LPG or water) and case type (enquiry and complaint). Also, a customer may have issues with two different companies at the same time.
Real Time Resolution cases
EWOV notes that case numbers have changed from those previously reported in Updates. This is a result of a new reporting methodology. From 1 July 2013, EWOV has started separately reporting Real Time Resolution cases in public reporting. As noted in the Glossary on page 18, when an Assisted Referral fails and a customer recontacts EWOV, the Real Time Resolution Team attempts to resolve the complaint again - within 24 hours.
18
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) Ltd
ABN 57 070 516 175
EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013
GLOSSARY
Complaint
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction regarding a policy, practice or customer service performance of an energy or water company which is part of the EWOV scheme, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected. Enquiry
An enquiry is a customer's request for general information (e.g. about the Smart Meter rollout). This information may be provided by EWOV or the customer may be referred to another agency. Referred Complaint
EWOV does not know the outcome of these referred complaints, except where the referral does not resolve the issue for the customer and they come back to us. There are two types of referred complaints:
Unassisted Referral - where a customer has not yet spoken with their company about their complaint and they are referred back to the company’s contact centre.
Assisted Referral - where a customer has spoken with someone at their company’s contact centre about their complaint, but it remains unresolved and the matter is referred to a higher level complaint resolution officer at the company.
Real Time Resolution
EWOV's Real Time Resolution Team receives failed Assisted Referral calls from customers and then works to negotiate a fair and reasonable resolution of the complaint – all within a one-call approach.
Investigation
A complaint for investigation is registered where: an Assisted Referral or Real Time Resolution case has failed, as the matter remains
unresolved, and the customer has recontacted EWOV, or the matter is complex and unlikely to be resolved as an Assisted Referral or by Real
Time Resolution, or the provider has requested an escalation to an Investigation.
Not allocated
This case type is registered when a customer tells EWOV about their concern but it does not involve a Scheme Participant, or the customer does not know or tell us the company's name.