The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has welcomed the Federal Court’s order that Origin Energy pay penalties totalling $12 million for breaches of its life support obligations under the National Energy Retail Rules.
The Federal Court found Origin breached the Retail Rules on more than 5,000 occasions. The breaches involved:
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- Failing to register customers after being informed by either the customer or the relevant distributor that a person at the customer’s premises required life support equipment.
- Failing to notify the relevant distributor that a person at the premises of certain customers required life support equipment.
- Failing to provide customers with information packs notifying them of relevant protections and assistance.
- Improperly deregistering the premises of customers with a person requiring life support equipment without following all the steps required to check whether life support equipment was required. In some cases, Origin disconnected the customer’s energy supply.
A number of these breaches involved third party agents Origin had contracted to help it to comply with its life support compliance obligations. Origin also admits it failed to establish the policies, systems, and procedures necessary to comply with the requirements of the Retail Rules.
AER chair Clare Savage said the Court’s decision highlighted the critical importance of protecting consumers whose premises require life support equipment, and that retailers remain responsible for compliance under the Retail Rules, including when they outsource parts of their operations to third parties.
“We expect retailers to meet all their obligations when they are informed that a customer has life support needs. This includes making sure that any third party they engage meets the same requirements,” Savage said.
As a result of the breaches, some customers were unregistered and did not have the protections that the life support provisions provide for up to 188 days, while others were disconnected and without power for up to 66 days. There was no loss of life associated with these breaches.
The conduct occurred between 1 February 2019 and 12 September 2022, and impacted almost 5,000 customers in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
The AER has previously published guidance to help retailers and distributors understand their responsibilities to customers who rely on life support equipment.
“We will continue to investigate and take action when obligations to support vulnerable customers are not met,” Savage said.
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In addition to the pecuniary penalty, the AER has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Origin in which Origin admitted to an additional 1,973 breaches of the requirement to provide information packs to life support customers.
Origin has also undertaken to make a $1 million community-based contribution to organisations which assist sections of the community who rely on life support equipment.
