Energy giant ENGIE admits misleading customer about power prices after 'deceptive and misleading' behaviour
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Global energy company ENGIE has apologised and admitted it misled a customer who was trying to negotiate a better deal by telling him that power prices were set by the government.
South Australian resident Fred Newman, who was also previously slapped with a one month bill of $1,200 by the provider, was told he could not negotiate a better price.
"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 at the time.
"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."
After Mr Newman took the company to the South Australian Energy and Water Ombudsman, the company apologised and confirmed it had misled Mr Newman, adding it was carrying out further training for the staff member.
"ENGIE's call centre scripts do not state or suggest that governments set market prices, and we have delivered agent coaching and targeting retraining about the importance of providing correct information to customers," a company spokesperson said.
"I got a phone call back from ENGIE from their complaints resolution manager who said that he'd listened to the phone call and that indeed those words 'set by the government' were used in error," Mr Newman said.
"Well, it's quite deceptive and quite misleading.
"I wouldn't be the only person, there would be lots of people that they've said this to."
It comes amid a swathe of criticism aimed at the energy provider, with ENGIE issuing up to 3,000 of its customers price "corrections" after questions about increases.
"I said 'this can't be correct' and the comment I got back was that 'no, that is correct'," Mr Doyle said.
"Until I complained to [the ABC] nothing was going to happen.
"You're only treated as a number, and they really didn't care."
South Australian Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis, who had already referred ENGIE to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has also now sent ENGIE's latest admission to the ACCC.
"I'm horrified by it," Mr Koutsantonis said.
"Imagine South Australians hearing from their energy retailers that the government is setting the price for electricity and that they have to pay it.
"It's ridiculous and I want to see heads roll.
"We can't have customers thinking there's a legal obligation on them to pay an unfair bill.
"The idea that this is somehow a script malfunction or some poor call centre operator who got it wrong, I'm finding a bit hard to believe now.
"I think it's getting to the point where there's actually something else going on that needs to be investigated and there needs to be prosecutions."
Energy and Water Ombudsman SA, Sandy Canale, said while he could not comment on the specific case, any error was a concern.
"There are circumstances where genuine errors do occur and what we try to do is to get the customer back to where they would have been," he said.
"Where it's more than an error, and it's more likely to be a systemic type problem, our role in that situation is to report that incident … to the Australian energy regulator, who then has the power to review the matter and determine whether there's any other action that may be required."
Mr Canale said if energy consumers were unhappy with the response they had received from their retailer, they should contact the SA Energy and Water Ombudsman's office.
The ACCC said it does not comment "on complaints received or potential investigations".
By James Wakelin
South Australian resident Fred Newman, who was also previously slapped with a one month bill of $1,200 by the provider, was told he could not negotiate a better price.
"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 at the time.
"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."
After Mr Newman took the company to the South Australian Energy and Water Ombudsman, the company apologised and confirmed it had misled Mr Newman, adding it was carrying out further training for the staff member.
Former ENGIE customer Fred Newman says he was incorrectly told the government sets energy prices. (ABC News: Trent Murphy)
"ENGIE's call centre scripts do not state or suggest that governments set market prices, and we have delivered agent coaching and targeting retraining about the importance of providing correct information to customers," a company spokesperson said.
'Quite deceptive and misleading'
Mr Newman said he was appalled at the way the company had behaved and had since changed electricity providers."I got a phone call back from ENGIE from their complaints resolution manager who said that he'd listened to the phone call and that indeed those words 'set by the government' were used in error," Mr Newman said.
"Well, it's quite deceptive and quite misleading.
"I wouldn't be the only person, there would be lots of people that they've said this to."
It comes amid a swathe of criticism aimed at the energy provider, with ENGIE issuing up to 3,000 of its customers price "corrections" after questions about increases.
ENGIE says it has delivered coaching and targeted retraining to provide correct information to customers. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)
'Treated as a number'
Peter Doyle, who was among those to receive a price correction, said he had also been misled, and not offered a cheaper default offer, by the company when he called to complain about his peak price of $1.10 per kwh."I said 'this can't be correct' and the comment I got back was that 'no, that is correct'," Mr Doyle said.
"Until I complained to [the ABC] nothing was going to happen.
"You're only treated as a number, and they really didn't care."
"I'm horrified by it," Mr Koutsantonis said.
"Imagine South Australians hearing from their energy retailers that the government is setting the price for electricity and that they have to pay it.
"It's ridiculous and I want to see heads roll.
Fred Newman says he is appalled at the way ENGIE behaved. (ABC News: Carl Saville)
"We can't have customers thinking there's a legal obligation on them to pay an unfair bill.
"The idea that this is somehow a script malfunction or some poor call centre operator who got it wrong, I'm finding a bit hard to believe now.
"I think it's getting to the point where there's actually something else going on that needs to be investigated and there needs to be prosecutions."
Energy and Water Ombudsman SA, Sandy Canale, said while he could not comment on the specific case, any error was a concern.
"There are circumstances where genuine errors do occur and what we try to do is to get the customer back to where they would have been," he said.
"Where it's more than an error, and it's more likely to be a systemic type problem, our role in that situation is to report that incident … to the Australian energy regulator, who then has the power to review the matter and determine whether there's any other action that may be required."
Mr Canale said if energy consumers were unhappy with the response they had received from their retailer, they should contact the SA Energy and Water Ombudsman's office.
The ACCC said it does not comment "on complaints received or potential investigations".
By James Wakelin
