Solar and Smart Meter Update 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 Released July 2014
2 CONTENTS 1. Solar and Smart Meter Cases... 3 2. SMART METER UPDATE... 4 2.1. EWOV Smart Meter Cases Increase by 36%... 4 2.2. Monthly Trends... 4 2.3. Case Registration Snapshot... 5 2.4. Top 10 Smart Meter Case Issues... 5 2.5. High Bill Cases... 6 2.6. Smart Meter Exchange Cases... 6 2.7. Smart Meter Read Cases... 6 2.8. Flexible Pricing Cases... 6 2.9. Smart Meter Case Study... 7 3. SOLAR UPDATE... 8 3.1. EWOV Solar Cases Drop by 24%... 8 3.2. Monthly Trends... 9 3.3. Case Registration Snapshot... 9 3.4. Top 10 Solar Issues... 9 3.5. Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Cases... 10 3.6. Solar Case Study... 12 APPENDIX - GRAPHS AND TABLES... 13 Graph 1: Monthly Trends - Smart Meter Cases... 13 Graph 2: Monthly Trends - Solar Cases... 13 Table 1: Case Registration Snapshot - Smart Meter Cases... 14 Table 2: Case Registration Snapshot - Solar Cases... 15 PUTTING THIS REPORT IN CONTEXT... 16 GLOSSARY... 17 This report provides stakeholders with an analysis of the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) (EWOV)'s solar and Advanced Meter (Smart Meter) complaint data, including case issues, case studies and outcomes. A copy of this report is uploaded onto EWOV's website.
Number of Cases EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 3 This report details the solar and Smart Meter cases presented by Victorian energy customers to the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) (EWOV) for the period of 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014. 1. Solar and Smart Meter Cases The graph below indicates the number of solar and Smart Meter-related cases EWOV received during the period of 1 April 2013 to 30 June 2014. EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Cases Received by Quarter 1 April 2013 to 30 June 2014 3,500 3,239 3,000 2,669 2,500 2,144 2,020 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 1,206 1,246 1,667 1,029 1,401 1,537 0 Apr to Jun 2013 Jul to Sep 2013 Oct to Dec 2013 Jan to Mar 2014 Apr to Jun 2014 Solar Cases Smart Meter Cases Quarter Smart Meter Cases Solar Cases
Number of Cases EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 4 2. SMART METER UPDATE 2.1. EWOV Smart Meter Cases Increase by 36% During the reporting period of 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014, EWOV experienced a 36% increase in Smart Meter cases compared to the previous quarter (1 January 2014 to 31 March 2014), with a total of 1,401 cases received. This is also 16% more cases than the number received from 1 April to 30 June 2013 (1,206 cases). EWOV Smart Meter Cases Received By Quarter 1 April 2013 to 30 June 2014 1,800 1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 150 182 104 106 910 42 Apr to Jun 2013 911 47 Jul to Sep 2013 225 151 1,259 32 Oct to Dec 2013 202 108 708 11 Jan to Mar 2014 206 117 1,061 17 Apr to Jun 2014 Quarter Enquiry Referral RTR Investigation Descriptions of case levels: Enquiry, Referral, Real Time Resolution and Investigation are available in the glossary on page 17. 2.2. Monthly Trends During this reporting period, EWOV received 1,401 Smart Meter cases - most of these cases were resolved as Referrals 1 and were registered against electricity retailers (75%). A further 24% were registered against electricity distributors 2. Appendix: Graph 1 on page 13 shows Smart Meter cases received by month and case type. 1 76% of Smart Meter cases received between 1 April 2014 and 30 June 2014 were handled as Referrals, with 65% handled as Assisted Referrals and a further 10% handled as Unassisted Referrals. Descriptions of Assisted Referrals and Unassisted Referrals are available in the glossary on page 17. 2 Note: 1% of all Smart Meter cases were not allocated against an EWOV scheme participant.
5 2.3. Case Registration Snapshot Notably, the highest number of Smart Meter cases involves Retailer 16 customers in the 5 distribution area (174 cases). This was followed closely by Retailer 11 customers in the 4 distribution area (172 cases). 5 recorded the third highest number of Smart Meter cases in its distribution area (162 cases). Table One in the appendix on page 14 shows the case numbers registered against each retailer categorised by individual distribution areas. 2.4. Top 10 Smart Meter Case Issues Of the 1,401 Smart Meter cases received in this reporting period, 2,063 issues were registered 3. The majority of these issues were about billing (61%) with 14% of cases specifically relating to high bills 4 and 8% about high estimated bills. A further 10% of cases were about the installation of a Smart Meter. Top 10 Smart Meter Issues 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 Billing > High > General 289 Provision > Existing Connection > Meter Exchange 209 Billing > Estimation > High 158 Billing > Tariff > Loss of Off Peak Rates 121 Billing > Error > Other Credit > Disconnection / Restriction > Arrears > Imminent Billing > Estimation > Meter Access Billing > Backbill > Other Billing > Delay 88 71 65 64 63 Billing > Meter > Reading 48 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 3 A case can have more than one issue. 4 This issue may not be directly attributed to the Smart Meter being installed or not functioning correctly.
6 2.5. High Bill Cases During the reporting period, EWOV received cases involving 289 high bill issues where a Smart Meter was installed at the property. Although these high bill cases are not always directly related to a Smart Meter installation, in some cases the meter exchange had caused issues for customers including concerns about: high backbilling due to previously under-estimated bills and/or billing delays high estimated bills following the meter exchange an incorrect final meter reading from the analogue meter multiple bills issued after the Smart Meter was installed. 2.6. Smart Meter Exchange Cases From 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014, EWOV received cases involving 209 meter exchange cases, most of which were linked to associated issues including billing, property damage, health and safety concerns, the installation process and notification about the installation. 2.7. Smart Meter Read Cases During the current reporting period, EWOV also received 63 cases 5 that involved customers concerned about meter readings, nearly doubling the 34 cases in the previous reporting period. These cases included issues about: incorrect or no meter reads being taken when the Smart Meter was installed (35%) high actual or estimated bill/s after the Smart Meter was installed (22%) estimated bills after the Smart Meter installation (13%) the accuracy of their billing and/or meter reads (13%) no start or end reads on billing (8%) or where start and end reads were only indicative (5%). 2.8. Flexible Pricing Cases From 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014, EWOV received 14 flexible pricing cases which was 42% less than the previous reporting period (1 January 2014 to 31 March 2014) where 24 cases were recorded. Customers raised the following flexible pricing issues: The Smart Meter was either not installed, had not been reconfigured or was not remotely read, which prevented access to a flexible pricing offer. The retailer was waiting on approval from the distributor to apply flexible pricing. A billing delay was experienced and customers did not know if their request for a flexible tariff had been applied to their account. The retailer advised that a distributor would need to attend the property to make changes to the meter, which would incur a fee, in order to access flexible pricing. 5 84% of these cases were registered as Referrals 81% as Assisted Referrals and 3% as Unassisted Referrals. As EWOV did not investigate the issues raised in the Referrals, these cases are limited to only the customer s side of the story. A further 10% of cases were handled as Investigations and 6% as Real Time Resolutions.
7 2.9. Smart Meter Case Study The case study below illustrates a customer's concern about missing start and end Smart Meter reads on bills and not being able to confirm their consumption. A customer s story 2014/20437: Retailer: Retailer 12. : 5. Opened as Assisted Referral: 30 April 2014. Re-opened as Real Time Resolution: 26 May 2014. Lodged as Investigation: 29 May 2014. Closed: 12 June 2014. Issue: No start and end Smart Meter reads on customer s bills Customer Statement The customer was experiencing a billing delay with Retailer 12 and had tried to transfer to a new electricity company, Retailer 3, in September 2013. However, there was an objection to the transfer request which meant Retailer 12 retained the billing rights. In early 2014, he had not received a bill from Retailer 3 so he contacted it and was advised that it would retrospectively transfer his account as of 6 January 2014. He then received a bill from Retailer 12 covering the period from August 2013 to February 2014 a longer period due to the billing delay. He calculated that this bill was $300.00 more than it would have been if he had been transferred to Retailer 3 sooner. He also noticed that the bills did not include start and end meter read information. He was concerned that he could not compare his bills with meter reads he had taken. Dissatisfied with this, he contacted Retailer 12 and was advised that it did not have to provide meter read data on bills as he had a Smart Meter. Dissatisfied with Retailer 12 s response, he contacted EWOV on 30 April 2014 and an Assisted Referral was raised. However, this failed to resolve the customer s concerns as he was again advised that it did not have to provide index meter reads for his Smart Meter, just the consumption recorded in intervals. When the customer recontacted EWOV on 26 May 2014, the case was handled via the Real Time Resolution process. However, due to the complexity of the case and the customer s ongoing dissatisfaction with Retailer 12 s response, the matter was handled as an Investigation. EWOV s Investigation During the Investigation, Retailer 12 initially advised that, as the customer s Smart Meter was manually read, it did not need to provide indexed meter read data on bills. EWOV investigated the billing, requesting the meter read data and copies of bills. EWOV compared the meter read data with the customer s bills and concluded that the billing almost exactly matched the consumption recorded on the meter. The customer was actually about $1.50 better off due to the small billing discrepancy. It was also confirmed that the bills did not include index reads. The Outcome Retailer 12 advised that it could not produce start and end meter read data on the customer s bills due to the way the electricity distributor provided the information in interval data. In recognition of the billing delays and to facilitate the resolution of the complaint, it waived the final bill for $341.43 and waived another $205.80 off another bill. These credits reduced the customer s final account balance to $203.00 which was payable by September 2014. The customer was satisfied that the $547.23 financial credit applied by Retailer 12 adequately addressed the lack of meter read data on his bills and the case was closed.
Number of Cases EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 8 3. SOLAR UPDATE 3.1. EWOV Solar Cases Drop by 24% EWOV received 1,537 solar cases during the reporting period from 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014. This is a 24% drop in case receipt when compared to the previous quarter (1 January 2014 to 31 March 2014). This is also a 53% decrease in cases recorded in the same period in 2013 (1 April 2013 to 30 June 2013). EWOV Solar Cases Received By Quarter 1 April 2013 to 30 June 2014 3,500 3,000 525 2,500 302 439 2,000 1,500 2,268 268 335 234 306 243 1,000 500 1,838 1,446 1,341 247 169 0 144 124 129 Apr to Jun 2013 Jul to Sep 2013 Oct to Dec 2013 130 1,037 84 Quarter Jan to Mar 2014 Apr to Jun 2014 Enquiry Referral RTR Investigation Descriptions of case levels: Enquiry, Referral, Real Time Resolution and Investigation are in the glossary on page 17.
9 3.2. Monthly Trends From 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014, EWOV received 1,537 solar cases and registered 2,137 solar case issues 6. Cases were received evenly across all three months in the reporting period 7. The majority of these cases were registered as Referrals (67%) 8, 16% were Investigations and a further 11% were handled by the Real Time Resolution process. Graph two in the appendix on page 13 shows solar meter cases received by month and case type. 3.3. Case Registration Snapshot During this reporting period, 88% of all solar cases were registered against electricity retailers. Retailer 11 accounted for 24% of all solar cases, which is 3% lower than the previous quarter (1 January 2014 to 31 March 2013) 9. Cases regarding electricity distributors accounted for 6% of all solar cases 10. During the current reporting period, 73 cases were found to be out of EWOV's jurisdiction because the complaint was about a private solar installer. In these instances, customers were referred to Consumer Affairs Victoria. Table Two in the appendix on page 15 shows the case numbers registered against each retailer categorised by individual distribution areas. 3.4. Top 10 Solar Issues During the current reporting period, nearly 31% of all solar issues registered involved Feedin Tariff (FiT) issues. This included the closed Premium Feed-in Tariff (PFiT), Transitional Feed-in Tariff (TFiT), Standard Feed-in Tariff (SFiT) schemes and the new General Feed-in Tariff (GFiT) 11. The most common single solar issue reported to EWOV during this period was about the delay of upgrading supply (204 issues) which was 20% less than the previous reporting period. The combined total of all billing issues accounted for 69% of solar issues and the combined total of all provision issues accounted for a further 13%. 6 Please note that a case can have more than one issue. 7 34% received in April 2014, 34% in May 2014 and 32% in June 2014. 8 58% handled as Assisted Referrals and a further 10% handled as Unassisted Referrals. Descriptions of Assisted Referrals and Unassisted Referrals are available in the glossary on page 17. 9 This was in addition to a drop of 8% between the 1 July 2013 to 30 September 2013 quarter and the 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013 quarter. 10 A further 6% of all solar cases were not allocated against an EWOV scheme participant. 11 8% of these cases were registered under the FiT issue - No Feed-in Tariff (No FiT). This means that the customer was unclear about the FiT they want to receive or they have no preference about which FiT is applicable.
10 Top 10 Solar Issues 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 Provision > Existing Connection > Supply Upgrade > Delay 204 Billing > Tariff > Premium Feed In > Not Applied 186 Billing > High > General Billing > Tariff > General Feed In > Not Applied Billing > Error > Other 97 172 158 General Enquiry > Energy / Water 80 Billing > Tariff > Transitional Feed-in Tariff > Not Applied 77 Billing > Backbill > Other 63 Transfer > Contract Terms > Variation - Price / Terms 53 Billing > Delay 50 0 50 100 150 200 250 3.5. Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Cases Of the Feed in-tariff (FiT) issues received over the reporting period: 67% were handled as Referrals 12, 11% were resolved via EWOV's Real Time Resolution process and a further 21% required an Investigation 13. 95% of these cases were registered against electricity retailers, with 55% of all FiT issues registered against Retailer 11, Retailer 12 and Retailer 16 combined 14. Retailer 11 had 28%, Retailer 16 had 15%, and Retailer 12 recorded 12%. 77% involved a FiT not being applied, a further 14% involved issues with the amount of generation applied, 7% related to the contract, and the remaining 2% related to the FiTs being charged instead of credited. 12 60% as Assisted Referrals and 7% as Unassisted Referrals. 13 A further 1% were lodged as Enquiries. 7% of the Investigations received during the reporting period are not yet resolved. 14 This is a 3% reduction in cases registered against these retailers combined when compared to the previous quarter and 9% less than the period of 1 October 2013 to 31 December 2013.
11 Customers raised concerns about the following FiT-related issues: Billing which did not reflect a FiT or the correct FiT. Current bills not including the FiT when it had previously been applied to billing. The solar process, which in many instances resulted in customers missing out on the FiT they had applied for an issue attributable to customers, retailers, distributors and/or solar installers (or a combination of these). Estimated bills causing issues with customers not receiving correct calculations of FiTs or any FiTs on their bills. s providing amended meter read data that did not include solar generation data, resulting in re-bills not including a solar FiT. Amended meter read data that resulted in backbills. Delayed billing and backbills following a solar capable meter being installed or configured. Incorrect, usually zero or low, amounts of generation due to a fault with the solar system. Delays with a solar meter installation and reconfiguration which resulted in customers not receiving FiT on bills.
12 3.6. Solar Case Study The following EWOV case study demonstrates why it is important for customers and solar installers to check if solar PV systems are functioning correctly and whether that has contributed to zero or low amounts of solar generation appearing on bills. A customer s story 2014/22264: Retailer: Retailer 11. : 4. Opened as Assisted Referral: 13 May 2014. Re-opened as Real Time Resolution: 4 June 2014. Re-opened as Investigation: 11 June 2014. Closed: 12 June 2014. Issue: Customer misses out on PFiT credits for solar generation due to incorrect information Customer Statement The customer was dissatisfied with Retailer 11 about not receiving the Premium Feed-in Tariff (PFiT) on his bills for solar generation. The customer had installed a solar PV system about five years ago and was previously receiving PFiT on his bills. He contacted Retailer 11 about the issue, on several occasions, over a period of months. During one contact he was advised that it was aware of billing database problems for some solar customers that was affecting its ability to bill him for solar generation. He was advised by Retailer 11 that once the issue was fixed he would be re-billed in line with the Energy Retail Code. However, after the issue kept recurring, Retailer 11 advised the customer to check his solar PV system. He engaged a licensed electrical inspector and discovered that his billing was not affected by the issue as initially advised by Retailer 11, but was in fact caused by his solar PV system not working due to a blown fuse. He was dissatisfied about this, as had he been provided with correct information from Retailer 11 at the time of his first contact, he would have arranged for an inspection of the solar PV system much earlier on and not missed out on PFiT credits for a period of nine months. Upon recontacting Retailer 11 about this, it offered a financial credit of $50 for the misinformation. Dissatisfied with Retailer 11 s response and offer, he contacted EWOV on 13 May 2014 and an Assisted Referral was raised. However, this did not resolve the customer s concerns as Retailer 11 advised that the solar PV system issue was not its fault. The customer returned to EWOV and we tried to resolve the complaint through the Real Time Resolution process on 4 June 2014 but this was unsuccessful as it was determined that a review of the customer s billing and more details about the missing solar credits was needed through an Investigation. EWOV s Investigation During the Investigation, EWOV created a timeline to determine the sequence of events. The customer used previous solar generation and consumption figures to calculate that he had missed out on $560.85 of PFiT credits. EWOV discussed the complaint further with Retailer 11, and it agreed that it would credit $560.85 to the customer s account in recognition of the incorrect information it provided that caused a delay in fixing the solar PV system. The Outcome After the $560.85 was applied, the account balance was reduced to $688.98. Retailer 11 apologised for the inconvenience caused and applied an additional financial credit of $88.98 to reduce the final balance to $600. The customer was satisfied with the outcome and the case was closed.
Number of Cases Number of Cases EWOV Solar and Smart Meter Update - 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 13 APPENDIX - GRAPHS AND TABLES Graph 1: Monthly Trends - Smart Meter Cases 500 400 300 200 100 0 EWOV Smart Meter Cases by Month 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 340 8 Apr 2014 75 67 31 46 371 7 May 2014 Month 64 40 350 2 Jun 2014 Enquiry Referral RTR Investigation Graph 2: Monthly Trends - Solar Cases 600 EWOV Solar Cases by Month 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 500 400 300 200 100 0 98 75 67 55 74 47 322 366 349 27 31 Apr 2014 26 May 2014 Jun 2014 Month Enquiry Referral RTR Investigation
14 Table 1: Case Registration Snapshot - Smart Meter Cases Company 3 2 1 4 5 Not allocated Interstate Retailer 11 4 23 20 172 55 1 275 Retailer 16 7 32 15 22 174 2 252 5 162 162 Retailer 12 11 5 55 31 46 1 149 4 1 95 96 Retailer 5 1 8 9 24 22 64 Retailer 2 4 13 13 18 10 4 62 Retailer 13 5 1 14 15 10 45 2 41 41 Retailer 14 1 4 20 14 39 Retailer 7 1 3 13 6 14 37 Retailer 15 5 3 14 7 29 1 26 26 Retailer 6 1 6 8 9 24 Retailer 8 1 6 3 12 22 Retailer 3 4 3 4 8 2 21 Retailer 9 4 3 8 4 19 Retailer 1 9 5 2 16 Not allocated 1 1 11 1 14 3 6 6 Retailer 10 1 1 Retailer 18 1 1 Total 45 140 200 452 544 19 1 1,401 Total
15 Table 2: Case Registration Snapshot - Solar Cases Company 3 2 1 4 5 Not allocated Interstate Retailer 11 4 17 70 223 52 4 1 371 Retailer 12 7 15 73 74 40 5 1 215 Retailer 16 41 29 66 65 6 207 Retailer 5 3 13 20 35 33 1 105 4 30 30 Retailer 13 10 15 29 11 1 66 Retailer 2 1 12 29 28 33 1 104 Not allocated 1 5 14 28 11 35 1 95 Retailer 14 1 5 16 27 11 1 61 Retailer 3 1 3 12 25 8 49 Retailer 15 1 11 24 7 1 44 Retailer 9 2 3 16 6 1 28 Retailer 6 2 5 7 14 10 38 Retailer 1 2 7 12 2 1 24 Retailer 8 8 6 1 15 Retailer 17 1 2 1 4 Retailer 7 2 4 3 2 10 21 Retailer 10 1 1 5 31 31 2 12 12 Retailer 4 1 1 1 15 15 Total 22 147 333 642 333 57 3 1,537 Total
16 PUTTING THIS REPORT IN CONTEXT The following criteria need to be taken into account when reviewing this report. EWOV s analysis is limited by its scope EWOV only examines the cases it receives. For example, EWOV is not always privy to the number of solar customers a retailer may service during and prior to this reporting period. Also, EWOV does not know about the efficiency of each retailer s internal complaint management procedures. This affects EWOV s ability to analyse trends and examine the bigger picture cause of complaints. Most cases are Referred complaints This report is based on data taken from enquiries and complaints. Complaints are categorised as either Unassisted Referrals, Assisted Referrals, Real Time Resolutions or Investigations. Please refer to the glossary on page 17 for definitions. EWOV does not investigate Referred Complaints and is limited to hearing only the customer s side of the story. Customers sometimes recontact EWOV Customers sometimes recontact EWOV after previously being referred back to their company because their concerns remain unresolved. This can result in EWOV registering an Assisted Referral after a previous Unassisted Referral, or registering an Investigation if the matter remained unresolved after an Assisted Referral. Customers may have complaints relating to more than one issue Based on the customer s statement, EWOV sometimes registers two or more issues for the one case for example, estimated billing and the PFiT not being applied to an account. EWOV staff register cases by fuel (electricity, gas, LPG or water) and case type (enquiry and complaint). Also, a customer may have issues with two different companies at the same time. Real Time Resolution cases EWOV notes that case numbers have changed from those previously reported in Updates. This is a result of a new reporting methodology. From 1 July 2013, EWOV has started separately reporting Real Time Resolution cases in public reporting. As noted in the Glossary on page 17, when an Assisted Referral fails and a customer recontacts EWOV, the Real Time Resolution Team attempts to resolve the complaint again within 24 hours.
17 GLOSSARY Complaint A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction regarding a policy, practice or customer service performance of an energy or water company which is part of the EWOV scheme, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected. Enquiry An enquiry is a customer's request for general information (e.g. about the Smart Meter rollout). This information may be provided by EWOV or the customer may be referred to another agency. Referred Complaint EWOV does not know the outcome of these referred complaints, except where the referral does not resolve the issue for the customer and they come back to us. There are two types of referred complaints: Unassisted Referral - where a customer has not yet spoken with their company about their complaint and they are referred back to the company s contact centre. Assisted Referral - where a customer has spoken with someone at their company s contact centre about their complaint, but it remains unresolved and the matter is referred to a higher level complaint resolution officer at the company. Real Time Resolution EWOV's Real Time Resolution Team receives failed Assisted Referral calls from customers and then works to negotiate a fair and reasonable resolution of the complaint all within a one-call approach. Investigation A complaint for investigation is registered where: an Assisted Referral or Real Time Resolution case has failed, as the matter remains unresolved, and the customer has recontacted EWOV, or the matter is complex and unlikely to be resolved as an Assisted Referral or by Real Time Resolution, or the provider has requested an escalation to an Investigation. Not allocated This case type is registered when a customer tells EWOV about their concern but it does not involve a Scheme Participant, or the customer does not know or tell us the company's name.