|
For immediate release
9 August, 2005
Electricity investigations
reduce as scheme beds down
Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner
Judi Jones presented her annual report at the commission's
annual general meeting today, advising that the third full
year of operation of the office had seen a 13 percent decrease
in the number of complaints that required investigation.
The annual general
meeting was held at the commissioner's new office premises
in Wellington.
"This is a positive
result," Jones said. "It is of course, the aim of
the scheme to encourage companies and customers to resolve
the complaints directly without intervention by this office.
It is only when the parties are unable to resolve the matter
themselves that the assistance of this office is required
and is available to them.
"As the scheme
beds down and consumer awareness increases, we expect the
number of files reaching investigation to decrease. The number
of files reaching deadlock and therefore requiring an investigation
decreased from 351 last year to 304 during this year. This
meant that last year 29 percent of complaints reached deadlock
as compared with 24 percent during this year."
The total number of
customers contacting the office during the year has risen
slightly from 1773 last year to 1798 this year. The number
of queries (where advice only is given, or the matter is outside
jurisdiction) fell slightly while the numbers of customers
notifying the office of complaints increased from 1199 last
year to 1274 this year.
"It is reassuring
for stakeholders in the scheme to note that while 1798 customers
contacted us about a complaint about their retailer or lines
company, only 304 files reached deadlock during the year,"
Ms Jones says.
"And of the 353
files we closed during the year, most were closed after the
customer and their company reached agreement on a settlement
during the investigation/ conciliation process.
"On 35 occasions,
I wrote to both parties to give my preliminary view on the
complaint and giving them notice of an intention to make a
recommendation. In 22 cases, both the company and the customer
accepted the proposed recommendation or reached agreement.
However, in 13 cases, either the customer or the company made
further comment and asked me to review my proposed recommendation.
In four of these, I did not uphold the complaint against the
member company."
In terms of the issues
involved in the deadlocked files, the biggest issue remained
billing (64.7%), followed by supply (7.1%). New to her report
this year, the commissioner has included a breakdown of the
work undertaken by the office for lines and retail members.
This shows that the percentage of files where the complaint
is in respect of the lines company is increasing; it has more
than doubled.
"It is my view
that this represents a growing awareness by customers of the
existence of this office, rather than a decline in the standards
of the services delivered by lines companies. The numbers
of investigation files (45) for lines members is very low
in comparison to the 1.8million connection points to the electricity
network," Jones said.
Commission chairperson
Alison Paterson spoke to the meeting saying that this was
the final report for the Electricity Complaints Commission
as from 1 April 2005 the scheme began offering gas complaint
resolution services and accordingly has been renamed the Electricity
and Gas Complaints Commission.
She said the commission
is currently working towards expanding the scope of services
by including coverage of owner/occupier issues (and Transpower)
in 2006. The commission believes that the necessary changes
to the constitution will be completed by the end of September
2005, and the services will be able to be offered from 1 April,
2006.
"This is an important
step because it will enable an application to the Electricity
Commission and the Minister of Energy for approval of the
scheme under the Government Policy Statements for Electricity
and Gas. This is a key objective for the commission going
forward," Paterson said.
She said the first
scheme review, conducted in the current year, found there
is a high regard for the commissioner who has worked at setting
up and developing the scheme from its inception in 2001.
One of the goals of
the commission has been to establish benchmarking to ensure
best practice service to customers and members so they remain
confident in the cost and service delivery of the scheme.
"Implicit in this
is comfort that the customer is satisfied with the process
(and by customer, we mean both parties to the complaint).
There is a fine line in respect of independence and advocacy
for one party or the other and the commissioner walks it carefully,"
Paterson said.
"The matter of timeliness is an
ongoing issue and again there needs to be a balance between
a quick outcome and protecting the concept of natural justice
which can take time. The commissioner needs to protect scheme
integrity."
ENDS
For more information or for electronic
images of Judi Jones please contact:
Josie Vidal
Communications/Publicity Officer
Electricity Complaints Commission.
(04) 914 4526
0274 757 305
e-mail: j.vidal@egcomplaints.co.nz
|
