RESIDENTS within Ararat Rural City have seen a 280 per cent increase in electricity and water utility debt collection cases referred to Victoria’s ombudsman.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The sharp increase in the number of people seeking help for disputes over unpaid utility bills occurred between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Though 2015-16 had a low number of cases, Ararat now has the second highest per person rate of debt collection complaints investigated by the Electricity and Water Ombudsman in Victoria.
Map of utilities debt collection complaints to the Ombudsman
Ararat’s figure equated to about one person contacting the Ombudsman about electricity and water utility debt collection for every 1000 residents in the municipality.
Across Victoria, the average arrears in the residential credit complaints investigated by the Ombudsman was $2521.
Those numbers were contained in the Ombudsman’s latest annual report, due for publication on Tuesday.
Overall, 72 people from Ararat Rural City contacted the Ombudsman in 2016-17.
Ararat residents were more likely to contact the Ombudsman than those in many other municipalities in western Victoria.
However, Ararat residents were less likely to file complaints about energy disconnections or water restriction cases.
For the third year in a row, energy disconnection or water restriction was the top ranking customer issue across Victoria.
High bills replaced debt collection or credit default as the second top ranking customer issue.
Even though overall cases were down, complaints about the following issues were up: provision of energy or water connection, company activities affecting land or property, actual supply of energy or water, and marketing by retailers to gain new customers.
In the annual report, Energy and Water Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert attributeed the overall fall to better complaints handling by utilities, but remained concerned about the capacity of many customers to stay on supply.
“Affordability continues to loom large. The Ombudsman’s office is dealing with a high proportion of complex complaints, many of them from customers in vulnerable situations,’’ she said.
“When direct negotiation between customers and companies about payment options isn’t able to deliver an outcome that works for both parties, the complaint ends up at the Ombudsman’s office.”
Related stories: