ENGIE customer slapped with $1,200 energy bill for one month wants better protection for consumers
Former Engie customer Fred Newman says he received a higher than usual electricity pricing. (ABC News: Carl Saville)
In short:
A South Australian energy customer says he was charged $1,200 for a single month of usage with electricity giant ENGIE.
It follows an exclusive report by ABC News that 3,000 South Australian ENGIE customers were being issued price "corrections".
What's next?
South Australia’s Energy Minister, Tom Koutsantonis says this is a "wake-up call" for consumers to check their bills.
A South Australian ENGIE customer says he was slapped with a $1,200 electricity bill for a single month last year.
Fred Newman said he was gobsmacked when he received the bill for his two-person household.
He said while it was the middle of winter, he and his wife had not made any major changes to their energy consumption.
"I was pretty shocked because I've had high electricity bills, but nothing approaching that," he said.
"It's a scam, and the ordinary consumer, including me, needs protection."
The South Australian said energy provider ENGIE conceded to him that there was a "known issue with the controlled load".
He said it reduced the bill and gave him a $500 credit.
He stuck with ENGIE but contacted the company again last month when his peak electricity price rose above 60 cents per kilowatt hour.
"When I spoke to ENGIE about the latest increase that they wanted — to 65 cents — they said to me that charge is set by the government," Mr Newman said.
"I said to the person that's a straight up lie because you're a private company and you've got a profit margin and you can choose how to set this."
Fred Newman's electricity bill with ENGIE for July 2024 was $1,286 before receiving $500 credit.
This week, it was revealed up to 3,000 South Australia ENGIE customers would receive a price "correction" after questions were put to the provider by ABC News.
Mr Newman was not part of the cohort to receive a price correction.
SA Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said ENGIE's admission that it had overcharged thousands of customers should be a "wake-up call" for people.
Mr Koutsantonis said that he feared other retailers could also be overcharging people, as 9 per cent of households remained loyal to their providers, even when prices rose.
"I am worried that other retailers are doing it," Mr Koutsantonis told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"I am worried that there is some sort of computer glitch here that is allowing these tremendous increases.
"This should be a wake-up call … to check your bills, call your retailer and say 'I want the cheapest price available'."
Tom Koutsantonis was "horrified" at ENGIE overcharging thousands of SA customers. (ABC News: Ashlin Blieschke)
But Mr Koutsantonis said he also feared ENGIE could have overcharged customers for much longer than the company had conceded.
"I want to investigate that a bit further, I'm not sure why it's only getting back paid to August, because if these increases have been incremental, what was the rate they were on last financial year?" he said.
"I'm pretty horrified that this actually could've occurred."
ENGIE is issuing up to 3,000 South Australian customers with a price "correction". (ABC News: Stephen Opie)
ENGIE has been contacted for comment but is yet to provide a response.
'The market sets the price'
Mr Newman has now switched providers and took ENGIE to the South Australia's Energy and Water Ombudsman.
He said that electricity pricing was now too difficult for the average consumer to understand and that made it easy for retailers to overcharge.
"The complexity that's been introduced through the generators, the transmission lines and the retailers create an artificial sense of competition, there isn't competition," he said.
In the most recent publicly available Energy Ombudsman's annual report 2023-24, ENGIE was the second most complained about company in South Australia.
The number of complaints received per 10,000 customers increased from 90 the previous year to 124 in 2023-24.
Sandy Canale says people should be paying the government's "safety net price". (ABC News: Ashlin Blieschke)
Another provider Energy Locals had a higher rate of complaints per 10,000 with 135.
Energy and Water Ombudsman SA Sandy Canale said it was important for people to search for better deals, including using the federal government's Energy Made Easy comparison site.
"You'd be surprised how often you might be able to get a better offer and it's just like anything else, the more work you do perhaps the better the returns are there for you," Mr Canale said.
He said there was nothing to be protect customers being charged above the government's "safety net price", which is known as the "default market offer" or "reference price".
"So, that's something that you need to be taking into account when you're negotiating with the retailer to make sure that you are paying below the reference rate, because we quite often seen customers paying well above the reference rate," he said.
He said his office did not examine retail prices.
"It's a deregulated market so the market sets the price," Mr Canale said.
The ACCC says energy retailers are "free to set its own prices". (ABC News: Brant Cumming)
Earlier, the Australian Energy Regular (AER) said in a statement that it was "aware of and will engage further with ENGIE".
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the federal government had been working with the Australian Energy Market Commission to make energy plans fairer including preventing customers from being charged more than the standing offer.
“Australians deserve a fairer go when it comes to their energy bills. In our second term, we’re getting on with delivering reform to ensure that no household or business pays more than they should,” Mr Bowen said.