Power company complaints up by 500 percent in past five years

9:35 am today

It comes as the cost of energy continues to increase. (File photo)

Photo: AFP

Complaints made to Utilities Disputes about New Zealand's power companies have increased by 500 percent in the past five years and were up by another 62 percent in the last year.

Utilities Disputes was a not-for-profit organisation which worked with customers and power companies to resolve disputes and complaints.

Its commissioner could order compensation of up to $50,000.

Neil Mallon, Utilities Disputes Commissioner and CEO told Morning Report, the organisation had received a record number of 13,554 complaints in the last year.

It came as the cost of energy continued to increase.

"There's a combination of cost of living pressures on Kiwi households who are already doing it tough with fuel. Other costs and electricity prices have gone up and at the same time we've raised awareness in our service and we've made it easier for Kiwis to complain."

Mallon said despite the organisation being around for 25 years, many Kiwis were only just becoming aware of its existence.

"We'll be on every energy bill. So if you look down at your next bill, you'll see us there with our 0800 number.

"We get about 25,000 Kiwis coming to us every year, so we've got really rich data and our work is involved in fixing those issues for them, resolving complaints.

"But we also scoop up all of that data and if we see anything systemic or a problem that's affecting everyone, we feed that back into the system and get that fixed," Mallon said.

The Utilities Disputes data had shown affordability was a major issue, being raised in complaints about bills, credit issues and disconnections. In 2021, 90 complaints mentioned affordability, this had now risen to 1029.

Billing issues made up approximately 47 percent of all complaints to the organisation, mainly relating to disputes over usage, unclear billing and overall affordability.

The organisation had also seen instances where issues with meters, estimates and other problems had impacted customers ability to pay.

"At the really pointy end, the most desperate cases where they're facing a disconnection, that's where we jump in and get involved straight away. And often there's a whole lot of wraparound support that can go for people if they're facing disconnection.

"But, it's dependent on them engaging with the company and the company doing the right thing," Mallon said.

While there had been an increase in complaints, most were quickly resolved by the organisation.

"But for about 1200 of those that aren't resolved, that's where we really get involved.

"A small percentage of those, 200 to 300 come through to me each year for a decision.

"But 90 percent of the time when I recommend something to the company and say, look, you should do a little bit more, or equally I say to the consumer, the company's done everything it needs to, that's the end of it," Mallon said.

As well as electricity, Utilities Disputes also resolved disputes relating to the supply of water, telecommunications and broadband installation.

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