Contact Energy to refund $280,000 for final bill errors

Friday 17th June 2011 1 Comment

Around 25,000 electricity users are to be repaid a total of about $280,000, after Contact Energy misled some customers about the amount payable for final bills.

Customers who closed their account with the energy supplier between April 1 2008 and April 15 2011 did not receive a prompt payment or dual fuel discount on their final bill, the Commerce Commission said today.

Contact Energy had failed to carry over a customer’s prompt payment discount from the unpaid previous month's invoice to the final bill when the customer closed an account.

While helping the commission with the investigation, Contact Energy had uncovered a similar breach of the Fair Trading Act in relation to those customers on the dual energy service also not receiving the relevant discount on their final bills.

Contact Energy would in the coming weeks be contacting by mail those customers affected, to arrange for refund payment. Refunds to customers who could not be contacted after six months would be donated to the Christchurch Earthquake relief fund.

Commission enforcement branch manager Greg Allan said Contact Energy had cooperated fully with the investigation and admitted liability at the first opportunity.

Contact Energy chief executive Dennis Barnes said the company apologised unreservedly for the breaches. Its actions had not been in any way deliberate or malicious but had cost the company's customers and compromised their trust.

Systems had been rectified to ensure the situation could not arise again.

NZPA

Comments from our readers

On 18 June 2011 at 8:12 pm mbrown said:

this is a typical delaying tactic being used by origin energy in Australia, who are making lots of takeovers and then not servicing their customers, or answering their legitimate queries. The relevant authorities should watch these people very closely