- Accused of making false, misleading or deceptive statements
- Energy Australia says it is ‘sincerely sorry’
The Federal Court has hit one of Australia’s “big three” energy retailers with a $14 million fine for misleading customers about prices.
The court ordered EnergyAustralia, a major electricity and gas seller, to pay the fine for making false, misleading or deceptive statements to hundreds of thousands of consumers about electricity prices and for failing to provide mandatory information required by the Sales Code Electricity Retailer.
The company has admitted to the breach, which occurred between June 20 and September 12, 2022 and affected approximately 566,000 customers.
The company failed to state the lowest possible price in its communications to customers and misrepresented the estimated annual price of its electricity offering for an “average” customer, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said on Thursday.
EnergyAustralia also admitted to publishing 27 online electricity offers that “did not indicate the difference between the reference price and the unconditional price expressed as a percentage of the reference price, or the ‘lowest possible price’ as required by the Code”.
The Code applies to all retailers supplying electricity to residences and small businesses in the applicable distribution regions in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland, the ACCC said.
It sets out how the retailer must communicate pricing information to customers and was introduced to increase transparency in the electricity retail market.
AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia dominate the retail market in Australia, selling gas and electricity to millions of customers.
EnergyAustralia has been fined $14 million for making false, misleading or deceptive statements to hundreds of thousands of Australians
EnergyAustralia has about 1.6 million customers across eastern Australia, the company’s website says, and employs about 2,300 people.
EnergyAustralia CEO Mark Collette said he and the company were “sincerely sorry” for the failure.
“We recognize that this $14 million fine reflects the seriousness of the failure in our duty to provide clear and accurate information to customers,” it said in a statement issued Thursday.
‘Once we became aware of the problem, we took immediate action.
‘We are seeking to contact all customers affected by this issue, as well as reviewing our pricing and customer communication processes.
EnergyAustralia is one of Australia’s largest energy retailers (file image)
The ACCC ruled that the energy retailer failed to state the lowest possible price in its communications to customers and misrepresented the estimated annual price of its electricity offering for an “average” customer. Pictured is ACCC President Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
‘We have made significant improvements to our governance.
‘We are continually investing in systems to improve our customers’ experience.
‘We are also working with our teams to ensure we identify any issues and rectify them as quickly as possible.
‘Our customers need the right information to manage their energy bills.
“We recognize that as the rising cost of living affects everyone, we must get the right information to our customers.”