Protection hiked for NSW power users

Picture: Rob Leeson Source: Herald Sun

NSW residents will receive greater consumer protection from power providers when the state implements reforms under the National Energy Customer Framework.

From July 1, the NSW government will introduce restrictions on the charging of contract exit fees, stop retailers from disconnecting customers with debts of less than $300 and extend a ban on late payment fees for vulnerable customers.

"The transition to the national framework will now ensure that all NSW customers have equal or stronger protections than those available under the existing NSW requirements," NSW Energy Minister Chris Hartcher said in a statement on Friday.

The reforms were due to start last July, but implementation was delayed "to ensure that NSW customers remained the focus of any reforms affecting retailers," he said.

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Fair Work Commission gets anti-bully power

VICTIMS of workplace bullying will be able to get timely help from the Fair Work Commission to stop it under new laws.

Legislation introduced to parliament today requires the commission to start dealing with bullying cases within 14 days of an application being made.

The commission can hold a conference to try and resolve the matter and it will get the power to make an order to prevent the bullying, Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten said on introducing the bill.

But the commission will not have the power to order compensation be paid.

The bill gives a legal definition of bullying and clarifies that it doesn't include reasonable management action done in a reasonable way.

"This new individual right of recourse will encourage early intervention to stop the bullying, help people resume normal working relationships, and prevent further episodes of bullying in the workplace into the future," Mr Shorten told parliament.

The bill also makes a range of "modest, balanced and pragmatic" changes to create new family friendly arrangements in response to last year's review of the Fair Work Act.

The amount of paid parental leave that both new parents can take at the same time will be boosted to eight weeks, with the possibility of using it in two-week blocks.

All pregnant women will get the right to transfer to a safe job if they need to for health reasons and the bill extends the right to request flexible working arrangements to all employees with caring responsibilities.

There are also new requirements for employers to consult with workers about late roster changes and how these might impact on their family responsibilities.

"We all arrange our lives around work commitments, so when work rosters change at short notice there is an impact not just on our work life but also our family life," Mr Shorten said.

Finally, the bill changes the rights of entry rules to give the Fair Work Commission greater powers to deal with disputes about the frequency of union visits to a workplace.

Debate on the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013 was adjourned.

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Computer snags leave power bills unpaid

Thousands of EnergyAustralia accounts have not been billed because of glitches in their new system. Picture: Rob Leeson Source: Herald Sun

GLITCHES in the new EnergyAustralia billing system have left more than 145,000 bills overdue, including 21,000 accounts that have never been billed.

The figures come from internal documents seen by

The Australian

that show the number of accounts that have either never been billed or long been unbilled for electricity and gas.

An EnergyAustralia spokeswoman told The Australian that only a "small number" of customers were affected by the "teething problems".

IBM handles the billing system from a team in India, and sources told The Australian that there was a huge workload from the system in Australia.

"The backlog is caused by IBM middleware (software) unable to handle sales files sent by third parties such as distributors," the source said. "Due to inadequate validity checking, errors are created and the IBM team in India is woefully undermanned to handle the workload.

"These errors have to be manually fixed, which has resulted in a growth in the backlog."

The EnergyAustralia spokeswoman said the new system was complex, but that IBM had doubled its support staff working on fixing the system.

"We are sorry to the small number of customers who haven't had the best experience and we're working round the clock to improve our service," she said.

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Computer snags leave power bills unpaid

Thousands of EnergyAustralia accounts have not been billed because of glitches in their new system. Picture: Rob Leeson Source: Herald Sun

GLITCHES in the EnergyAustralia billing system have left about 300,000 bills unable to be finalised.

The Australian reports that there are more than 145,000 bills overdue, and 21,000 accounts that have never been billed due to problems with a new computer system.

The figures come from internal documents seen by The Australian that show the number of accounts that have either never been billed or have long been unbilled for electricity and gas.

An EnergyAustralia spokeswoman told The Australian that only a "small number" of customers were affected by the "teething problems".

IBM handles the billing system from a team in India, and sources told The Australian that there was a huge workload from the system in Australia.

"The backlog is caused by IBM middleware (software) unable to handle sales files sent by third parties such as distributors," the source said. "Due to inadequate validity checking, errors are created and the IBM team in India is woefully undermanned to handle the workload.

"These errors have to be manually fixed, which has resulted in a growth in the backlog."

The EnergyAustralia spokeswoman said the new system was complex, but that IBM had doubled its support staff working on fixing the system.

"We are sorry to the small number of customers who haven't had the best experience and we're working round the clock to improve our service," she said.

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