Read the full annual report - Queensland Council of Social Service

Low income
consumer advocacy
Ensuring a basic standard of living
A major piece of work this year was the QCOSS Cost of Living Report released in
May 2011. This generated exceptional media coverage and widespread interest
throughout the sector and within government.
The report drew an immediate commitment from government to annual reporting of
state-based concessions and subsidies. This will include estimates of the number of
households eligible for concessions and the annual take-up rate.
Electricity
Speakers at the Cost of Living Report launch were
QCOSS author Roger Church (left) with Chris Wilson
and Joanne Merrigan of the Kyabra Community
Association.
We continued to raise awareness of rising electricity prices, the need for consumer
assistance and the high disconnection rates for non-payment of electricity bills
in Queensland. This led to the government undertaking research on causes and
solutions.
We influenced the government to focus on energy efficiency for low income
households through the new Queensland Energy Management Plan and we
contributed to improvements in the recently finalised national consumer protection
framework for electricity and gas customers.
Water
We established relationships with new water entities, the Queensland Water
Commission and other stakeholders, culminating in workshops in Brisbane and
Ipswich.
Our submission to draft water and waste-water codes influenced improvements
to the codes and resulted in opportunities to work with the Queensland Water
Commission on future improvements.
Customer hardship
We encouraged some water and energy retailers to improve their customer hardship
practices and, through submissions to the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission, contributed to improvements in the self-regulation of door-to-door
energy marketing.
We attracted additional resources through the Consumer Advocacy Panel to buy
expert advice and assistance with submissions to the Queensland Competition
Authority on matters such as pricing and tariffs, and to undertake special research
projects such as establishing indicators for retailer performance reporting of
customer hardship.
Working together
Our advocacy on behalf of low income households was characterised by working
with and advocating to government and private enterprise across a range of issues.
We had input into the development of energy and water consumption protection
regimes through submissions on legislation, guidelines, program development and
reviews across a range of consumer issues. We worked with industry to hold an
energy affordability forum in December 2010. We were represented on multiple
committees and were part of regulatory/ombudsman schemes and Government/
Ministerial committees.
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Annual Report 2010-11