Approval of a Joint Electricity and Gas Complaints Resolution Scheme

Consultation paper on Approval of a Joint Electricity and Gas Complaints Resolution Scheme

The Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Company invite submissions on the consultation document "Approval of a Joint Electricity and Gas Complaints Resolution Scheme”. 

The Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Co have agreed that they will act jointly to approve a single complaints resolution scheme.  The reason for this is that a single dual-fuel scheme provides benefits such as ease of access, consistency of outcomes and efficiencies of scale.  In addition, many of the same companies are involved in both sectors and many customers buy electricity and gas from the same retailer.  

• Consultation paper

A forum to assist submitters is also being held.  See details of the forum below.

The preference is to receive submissions in electronic form (Microsoft Word format or pdf) with “Submission on Approval of a Complaints Resolution Scheme” in the subject header to info@electricitycommission.govt.nz. If submitters do not wish to send their submission electronically, they should post it in hard copy form to:

The Commission will acknowledge receipt of all submissions electronically. Please contact Maree McGregor if you do not receive electronic acknowledgement of your submission within two business days.

The preference is for all submissions to be collected at a single point by the Electricity Commission.  However, submissions may also be provided to Gas Industry Co if that is preferred. See the consultation paper for details. Submissions provided to Gas Industry Co will be consolidated with those provided directly to the Electricity Commission.

Where possible, submissions should be provided in the format shown in Appendix A of the consultation paper. Submitters should indicate any documents attached in support of their submission in a covering letter.

In order to foster an informed and transparent process, the Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Co intend to make submissions available to the public on their websites.

Submitters should note that the contents of submissions on this paper, whether provided directly or indirectly via Gas Industry Co, will be received by the Electricity Commission, and will be among the information the Commission holds which is subject to public release under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). See the consultation paper for further details.

Forum

To assist submitters, the Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Co held a joint stakeholder forum for all stakeholders.  The objective of the forum was to provide an opportunity for:

• the Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Co to outline the rationale for, and the detail of, the proposed requirements for approval of a single energy-based complaints resolution scheme; and
• stakeholders to ask questions, exchange views, and provide initial comments on the proposal.

The forum was held on Tuesday 15 April 2008 from 2:00pm to 4:30pm at the Electricity Commission, Level 7, 2 Hunter Street, Wellington. 

• Slides from the Forum pdf [148 KB]

Archive

• Australian Benchmarks for Industry-Based Customer Dispute Resolution Schemes
• Approval method of a consumer complaints resolution scheme http://www.electricitycommission.govt.nz/opdev/retail/consumercomplaints