Evidence gathered by the commission indicated a hardship flag, which prevents disconnections, was intended to be placed on the customer’s account after they explained their circumstances to the energy retailer on 13 July 2022.
The following week, the customer’s electricity was allegedly cut off for non-payment of bills after Momentum Energy experienced an IT error that meant the hardship flag was not applied to the account and the retailer’s systems failed to automatically stop the disconnection.
Commission Chairperson Kate Symons said the alleged wrongful disconnection went to the heart of the commission’s objectives to protect consumers, particularly those experiencing vulnerabilities.
“During difficult times, an inability to access essential services, like power, should not be a cause for further difficulty. By law, energy retailers in Victoria must assist customers facing or anticipating financial hardship and that includes treating disconnections as a last resort,” Commissioner Symons said.
“Any failure by energy retailers to reliably provide assistance can increase the pressures being experienced. In this case, it’s alleged a family violence victim-survivor had the added stress of a wrongful power disconnection after seeking help and disclosing deeply personal details.”
“Ensuring energy retailers put consumer needs and protections first is one of the commission’s enforcement priorities, and we require all businesses to have robust processes in place to ensure they’re consistently meeting their obligations to support their customers.”
Commissioner Symons said while Momentum Energy acknowledged its alleged error and restored the customer’s power within a few hours, the commission had accepted an enforceable undertaking offered by the retailer to try to prevent a repeat of the alleged error.
“For the two-year period specified in the enforceable undertaking, Momentum Energy has committed to manually checking every one of customers’ circumstances before a disconnection for non-payment occurs and to reduce the risk of IT errors leaving customers without power in the future,” she said.
“The undertaking also gives the commission close oversight of Momentum Energy’s compliance improvement plan and increased monitoring of its disconnections. This is a legally binding obligation, and we expect full cooperation and compliance from Momentum Energy on this matter.”
