Neil Mallon: Utilities Dispute Commissioner on the updated transparency rules for power companies

The Utilities Dispute service is welcoming changes to power rules.  

The Electricity Authority's new rules, which kick in from October 30, will force power companies to simplify their bills and tell customers if they're on the best plan they provide.  

It will also mean power companies could only send backdated bills once every six months.  

Utilities Dispute Commissioner Neil Mallon told Ryan Bridge it won't just benefit customers.  

He says it will lead to fewer complaints and make it easier to resolve complaints.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The electricity authority, updating the rules for your power bill,
clearer bills, playing language, a requirement that you're on the
best plan for your usage. Neil Mellon is Utilities Disputes
Commissioner and CEO of ME this morning. Now, good morning,
Good morning Ryan. Will these make any difference to what
we're actually paying on the bills?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Oh? Look, I think they will long term because what
they will do is reduce some of the inefficiencies in
the system. I think, particularly for consumers who get caught
up in errors with their metering or their billing and
face a large back or that will make a real
difference for those consumers.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Is it going to be easier for us to understand?
I mean, they're pretty easy to understand, now, aren't they.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh look, I think there's difficulties between different retailers understanding plans.
We get a lot of complaints about you not understanding usage,
not understanding how much people are paying for their bills.
I think having some standard things will really help consumers.
It will also promote switching, It will reduce the complaints
that come through to us when we deal with them,
and it will make it easier for us to sort

(00:59):
of resolve those complaints with consumers as well, So I
think they're positive changes.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Neil, there's going to be a cap on how far
back the energy companies can hit you with a backdated charge.
Do you deal with a lot of disputes about that?
How far back are we talking?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Look, we're talking about it being reduced to six months,
which is a really big shift. We at Utilities Suites
deal with around about fourteen thousand complaints a year, and
last year we dealt with abound one hundred two hundred
complaints dealing with really specific backbill issues and it didn't
sound like a lot, but the average bill for a
consumer was around twenty three hundred. That's for a household.

(01:34):
For a business it was eighteen thousand, and you're dealing with,
in some cases, people getting hit with that bill in
one go and it being deducted from their account. So
it's a significant change that we've been pushing for for
a couple of years. And to be fair, some retailers
have been really positive and worked with utility spits to
reduce the amount voluntarily that they would go back, but

(01:55):
we were seeing differences between retailers. We were seeing consumers
getting really impacted by this. We've been pushing for that
change for the last couple of years and it's positive
to see it being right.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Neil, appreciate your time. This moowying Neil mallon Utilities disputes
commissioner and CEO.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
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