One of Australia’s ‘big three’ energy giants will be taken to court by the consumer watchdog over allegations of misleading customers on price.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has today begun legal proceedings against EnergyAustralia over the way it communicated its price changes.
The ACCC have alleged EnergyAustralia’s conduct “made it harder for people to accurately compare their electricity plan with offers from other retailers”.
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In doing so, the watchdog believes it has breached the Electricity Retail Code to appropriately communicate price information.
The Electricity Retail Code was introduced in 2019 and applies to all electricity retailers in NSW, South Australia, and South-East Queensland.
“With electricity prices increasing, and many Australians looking for a better deal, it’s crucial that the information people receive from their energy company is correct and can be relied upon,” ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement.
The ACCC alleges that EnergyAustralia breached the Code between June and September 2022, by failing to state the ‘lowest possible price’ when notifying customers of price changes.”
The consumer watchdog also alleges that EnergyAustralia made “false or misleading representations” when sending estimates of annual costs to customers.
Cass-Gottlieb said “there is really no excuse” for retailers not to comply with their obligations.
“Correspondence from energy companies often contains complex information that is hard for consumers to decipher, which is precisely the problem that the Electricity Retail Code was introduced to deal with,” she said.
The ACCC said it will be seeking “penalties and declarations, costs, and other orders”.
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