IPower Pty Limited and IPower 2 Pty Limited (trading in partnership as Engie, and formerly known as Simply Energy), have paid penalties totalling $1,676,104 for alleged breaches of Victorian energy rules related to family violence provisions and to performance reporting.
IPower Pty Limited and IPower 2 Pty Limited (trading in partnership as Engie) penalty notices 2024
Energy retailers IPower Pty Limited and IPower 2 Pty Limited (trading in partnership as Engie, and formerly known as Simply Energy), have paid penalties totalling $1,676,104 after we issued penalty notices on 16 August 2024.
We issued the penalty notices to Engie for alleged breaches of Victorian energy rules related to family violence provisions and to performance reporting.
It is alleged that Engie failed to comply with one or more family violence provisions in relation to 65 family violence affected customers, including the obligations to:
- Prevent the disclosure or provision of confidential information about customers affected by family violence without their consent.
- Take reasonable steps to find out an affected customer’s preferred method of communication, or offer practical alternatives if their preferred method was not practicable.
- Provide customer service assistance that avoided the need for a customer affected by family violence to repeatedly disclose or refer to their experience.
We also issued penalty notices to Engie for failing to provide accurate performance reports to the commission, after it allegedly contravened its reporting obligations 20 times between December 2021 and April 2024.