Among the breaches – which spanned 2019 to 2023 – Origin also wrongfully disconnected 98 gas customers without following proper processes,including people in financial hardship.
Origin offices in Melbourne.Chris Hopkins
Origin self-reported the breaches to the Essential Services Commission (ESC) and the energy company’s executive general manager of retail,Jon Briskin,said IT problems responsible for most of the failures had since been resolved.
The commission further alleges Origin failed to report some of the breaches within the required timeframe. The ESC is seeking civil penalties,adverse publicity orders and injunctions through the Supreme Court action filed late last month.
Eleven affected customers either used life support equipment themselves or had a person at their home who did. The commission said Origin failed to properly record,update or maintain information on the life support register and provide that information to energy distributors.
“These alleged failures put life support customers at increased risk from power interruptions,” the ESC said in a statement in December. It is not alleged that those households ever lost power.
“Origin’s multiple alleged failures particularly concern the commission because of the vulnerability of the customers who were impacted,or placed at risk,by the alleged conduct. The commission is committed to helping all Victorians who are experiencing vulnerability to access essential services.”
Under the financial difficulty framework,energy retailers must provide payment assistance for customers in hardship. They must also provide clear and unambiguous information about assistance customers are entitled to and how they can access it.
When a customer on a payment plan fails to meet a bill,the provider must offer to amend the amounts payable or the frequency of the payments.
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The commission said Origin breached the financial difficulty framework for more than 30,000 electricity and gas retail customers. A further 98 gas customers were also wrongfully disconnected having missed a bill payment. This would have included customers experiencing financial difficulty.
Briskin said Origin had proactively contacted customers where appropriate and compensated them.
“Origin self reported these breaches to the ESC and has cooperated fully with its investigation. We have fixed the IT problems that caused the breaches,and where appropriate we have proactively contacted the affected customers and provided compensation,” Briskin said in a statement toThe Age. Origin did not say how many customers were compensated.
“These errors mainly occurred under our old legacy customer service platform,and we have since moved to a new platform and operating model,invested to strengthen customer protections and improve our compliance processes to help prevent and detect breaches,” Briskin said.
“We take very seriously our obligations to support and protect vulnerable customers and we will continue to focus on supporting our customers,including through the $45 million we have allocated for hardship support this financial year.”
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