Powershop said it had lost customers in the past couple of months, although those numbers had stabilised.
Powershop customer Zakiyyah Maqbool said she’d tried to get hold of her provider multiple times about her high bills, difficulty understanding which rates were being applied, and what she believed was solar rebates applied inconsistently.
She still hadn’t heard back.
“It’s been incredibly frustrating,” Maqbool told the Herald.
“I have young children, so our power usage is naturally higher during winter, and I’m currently on parental leave, which means our household budget is already tight.
“When you’re trying to manage every dollar, not being able to clearly understand your electricity bill or verify that the correct discounts, rebates and promotions have been applied just adds unnecessary stress.
“I’ve spent hours trying to reconcile my bills, and I shouldn’t have to manually analyse invoices just to work out whether I’m being charged correctly. If I am paying more than I should be, I have no easy way of identifying it.”
Mallon said that was where he could come in, as a mediator.
“If they are experiencing those issues and they are struggling to get through to their retailer, they can absolutely come to us.
“They’ll get a real person on the end of the phone and what we will do in the first instance is try to connect them into the correct team at their retailer.
“And if we can’t get through on the phone, what we’ll do is package up their complaint in writing and get it through to them really quickly.”
A Powershop spokesperson said: “We’re absolutely gutted that some of our loyal Powershop customers are having a tough experience with the new app.
“Powershop exists to give people more control over their power and help them save money,” they told the Herald.
The company said some of the problems were not an “easy fix”, but it was listening to customers, taking feedback seriously, and making changes.
“We know we haven’t resolved everything, but we’ve already made improvements, and more are on the way,” the spokesperson said.
“We are absolutely confident that the usage and cost on the app is accurate, but we’re sorry for any stress that the changed layout has caused.
“Since we’ve brought in new staff, wait times have come down, and we’re helping more customers understand how to get back shopping and saving money.”
The Commerce Commission took longer than necessary over the Manawa takeover. (Image: NZME)
The Commerce Commission said that since April 1 it had received eight “concerns” about Powershop.
“Key themes include billing issues and high/inaccurate pricing,” a commission spokesperson said.
No action was taken on six, while two were still being assessed.
“It is important to note that a concern being reported to us does not necessarily mean a business has done anything wrong.
“We make several considerations when deciding whether to take a concern further, including whether it raises issues under the laws we enforce, the potential for consumer harm, availability of resources, and an assessment of the comparative priority of the various cases being investigated.”
The ComCom says high prices are not illegal under the Fair Trading Act, but the law prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct, and false representations.
Utilities Disputes Commissioner Neil Mallon.
Mallon said it was even harder in winter when prices spiked and line charges increased.
“It’s absolutely true Kiwi households are doing it tough, and we’ve heard anything from 12 to 17% price increases. The price increase for that customer will depend on a number of things.
“All of those things should be really clearly communicated to the customer, and a lot of them, they should be able to see on the bill itself.”
Mallon stressed power companies should be making bills easy to read and understand.
The Electricity Authority is bringing in changes in October that will make bills even simpler.
“If customers aren’t really able to see what the usage is for, where they go to correct things, that causes problems.
“From October, those things are going to be spelled out a lot more clearly on the bill, which is going to help. But it shouldn’t be hard.”
Utilities Disputes acts as a mediator but does have the power to order payouts.
“The easiest thing to compare us to is an ombudsman service. Our approach is to try and mediate and resolve it, but we have real power.
“If I see something’s gone wrong … then I can order up to $50,000 compensation. Typically, it’ll be a lower level than that.”
If such a decision is made, it is binding on the company.
Of the 13,500 complaints received last year, 90% of those were resolved “quickly”. About 2000 went into the “deadlock process”.
Mallon said some companies were better than others at dealing with complaints.
“For the first time last year, we saw customer service complaints go above bill complaints, and that was due to not being able to get through.
“Some retailers don’t have a call centre. But [customers] should be able to get through to their retailer and have all of those things explained.”
Other mandated changes coming in October will mandate clearer invoices, limit unexpected back-billing to six months, and require power companies to proactively help consumers find cheaper plans.
Mallon says limiting back-billing is a good move.
“You will no longer have a catch-up bill if there’s an error or an estimate that goes back longer than six months.
“We were seeing over the past year or two real inconsistencies between companies. You come back to fairness, and it should be one standard for all.”
Katie Bradford is a senior correspondent at the Herald. She has been a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years and was based in the press gallery for 10 years. She specialises in politics, business and Auckland issues.