EnergyAustralia Pty Ltd (EnergyAustralia) has paid two infringement notices totalling $142,800 issued by the AER for alleged breaches under the National Energy Retail Law (Retail Law) and National Energy Retail Rules (Retail Rules).
The AER issued the infringement notices as it believed on reasonable grounds that EnergyAustralia breached:
- Section 38(a) of the Retail Law on one occasion, by transferring a customer’s electricity to itself from another retailer without obtaining the customer's explicit informed consent.
- Rule 107(2) of the Retail Rules on one occasion, by de-energising a customer’s electricity when none of the circumstances permitting the de-energisation in Division 2 of Part 6 of the Retail Rules applied.
The alleged breaches arose because an unrelated person had accidentally set up an electricity account at the affected customer’s premises. This resulted in EnergyAustralia sending communications including bills to the affected customer’s premises that were not addressed to the affected customer, which led to non-payment and EnergyAustralia disconnecting the affected customer’s service.