Opposition slams Cook Government after it was revealed every WA energy retailer has overcharged customers

An investigation into Synergy’s $40 million billing bungle has revealed every energy retailer in WA has overcharged customers. And the Opposition has accused the Government of keeping the extent of over-charging secret, as the Greens demanded tougher penalties. The Economic Regulation Authority issued a second compliance enforcement notice on Tuesday over breaches of Synergy’s retail licence, after 174,522 customers were wrongly charged a total in excess of $40.4 million despite closing their accounts. The ERA said its checks also revealed that all six electricity and gas suppliers in WA have overcharged thousands of customers during the past two years. State-owned Synergy was the only supplier served a notice as it did not have way of quickly notifying and refunding customers. Synergy’s overpayments were also the biggest by far. Horizon Power was the next highest with overpayments totalling $213,353. Kleenheat overcharged 1500 customers by a total of $175,000. “It’s very serious and we are extremely angry that this has occurred,” Premier Roger Cook said. “It’s a great shame that it’s occurred since 2008, on and off over that period of time. This is an oversight, a neglect by Synergy, and we’re very angry about it and we expect them to rectify that situation as quickly as possible. “You can have confidence that we’ll continue to hold these companies to account. You can have confidence that we will make sure that when mistakes are identified, that we will rectify the situation and insist on it.” If Synergy customers are not refunded by April next year it faces a maximum fine is $100,000 Greens MP Brad Pettit called the saga “bizarre and deeply outrageous” and urged the Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson to take action. “Here we are in a cost of living crisis, with Synergy dragging their feet actually dealing with this,” he said. Shadow Energy Minister Steve Thomas said the Government should “hang its head in shame”. “It’s apparent that, I think everybody in the energy system knew that there was a problem here, and they didn’t act, and they kept it secret,” he said. Ms Sanderson has vowed to instigate a review of Synergy’s board, after a review of its billing system, which was recently completed. She hinted a restructure may be needed. “The independent reviewers have briefed me on their final report,” she said on Tuesday. “I am considering their recommendations, which strengthen operational systems and customer protection.” Meanwhile, Mr Cook refused to say whether tougher penalties are needed. “That’s to be debated . . . My priority is to get that money back into the pockets of the customers that were subject to this overpayment. And it’s, quite frankly, unacceptable,” he said. Synergy self-reported in March that over-payments had been detected that affected 2845 Centrepay customers. The full scale of the errors was only revealed in October when chief executive Kurt Baker issued a public apology. He warned refunds would take time. “This isn’t good enough, it’s not acceptable, and we’ve let our customers down,” Mr Baker said. “On behalf of Synergy I’d like to say I’m sincerely sorry for the impact that we’ve had on our customers, we need to do better. “Our priority is to contact the impacted customers to enable those fund refunds to be made as soon as we can. “If you are an impacted customer, there is nothing for you to do at this point in time, we will contact you directly, and this process will take several months.”