Victoria Government Gazette

2908 G 47 20 November 2003 Victoria Government Gazette
2 Assessment of complaints
2.1 Consumers who contact CAV or the ESC about a licensed electricity or gas retailer will be
referred to the EWOV. 2 This arrangement reflects the principle that consumers should have
access to a Òone-stop-shopÓ for energy complaints.
2.2 The initial assessment procedure is that:
(a) If the customer has attempted to have their complaint resolved by the licensed
retailer, EWOV will investigate and make a preliminary assessment as to whether
there appears to be a breach of either statutory or other regulatory instruments;
(b) EWOV will attempt to resolve the complaint in its usual way; and
(c) Regardless of the success of such resolution efforts, certain notifications will occur
(clause 3).
Sections 3 and 4 sets out certain matters of which one body will notify another (clause 3
identifies what the parties understand to be the role of EWOV). Notification may be made to
more than one body, at any time and may involve a complaint already known to the other body.
Notification does not mean referral for action, nor necessarily that any action is to be taken.
Some of the obligations in clause 4 may arise after clause 5 begins to operate.
3 Initial notification by EWOV
3.1 EWOV to ESC Ñ EWOV will notify the ESC of a market conduct complaint if the alleged
conduct appears to have the following characteristics:
(a) A systemic or material breach of a licence, code or guideline issued by the ESC
including, without limitation, the Code of Conduct for Marketing Retail Electricity
and Gas in Victoria and/or Guideline No 10: Confidentiality and Explicit Informed
Consent.
3.2 EWOV to CAV Ñ EWOV will notify CAV of a market conduct complaint if the alleged
conduct appears to have the following characteristics:
(a) A serious breach of the Fair Trading Act 1999 (FTA) including, without
limitation, a breach likely to warrant prompt enforcement action of a type more
readily taken by CAV; or
(b) The alleged conduct appears repeated, that is it affects many consumers (at least
10 from one business), and causes significant detriment; or
(c) The licensee has been the subject of previous enforcement action by CAV.
4 Ongoing communications
4.1 CAV to ESC Ñ CAV will promptly notify the ESC about:
(a) any proposed enforcement action against a licensed retailer;
(b) any other material matter which CAV believes is relevant to the ESC in the context
of the objectives and purpose this memorandum.
4.2 ESC to CAV Ñ ESC will promptly notify CAV about:
(a) any matter that may warrant immediate investigation or enforcement action under
the FTA;
2 CAV will accept enquires and may conciliate complaints where the trader is an independent intermediary, for example
an energy broker.