Victorian water and energy companies have been working to improve customer outcomes, according to this report.

Introduction

Why write a research paper?

EWOV receives and resolves customer complaints about a wide variety of Victorian energy and water issues. In May 2014, we registered our 500,000th case – giving us a wealth of complaint data and insight into the customer experience. Since EWOV’s inception in 1995, a key role of the scheme has been the sharing and dissemination of our case data with our stakeholders. Each year we distribute 21 editions of our regular publications. As well as our Annual Report, each quarter we produce Res Online, our Marketing and Transfer Report, our Solar and Smart Meter Report, our new Affordability Report and Connect (a digital newsletter for community agencies).

Stakeholders value our publications because they contain timely complaint data, expert analysis of case trends and set out real customer stories through case studies. However, we believe we can further add to the public policy landscape by producing research papers which critically examine a current and topical complaint trend in more comprehensive detail. Our stakeholders have told us that there is a need for a deeper analysis of EWOV cases and they welcome the opportunity to understand more about the complaint experience of Victorian energy and water customers.

Why affordability?

Due to the growing community interest in energy and water affordability, it was clear to us that this should be the subject of this research paper. We are hopeful that the sharing of EWOV’s extensive case knowledge will assist our stakeholders to address energy and water affordability, ultimately reducing complaints to EWOV.

We know that there are increasing challenges for industry in helping their customers pay their bills and supporting them on financial hardship programs. There are important policy considerations for government and regulators in deciding how to frame consumer protections and monitor hardship support, particularly in the competitive energy retail market. There are also stresses on community sector resources as more people need help with managing their energy and water costs, while organisational and project funding can be difficult to secure. And significantly, the proportion of EWOV affordability-related complaints is growing, as more and more Victorians need our help to resolve their complaint, pay their bills and stay on supply.