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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-09-19 Daily Xml
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ENERGY PROVIDERS

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house about what the government is doing to give South Australian households greater confidence when choosing an energy provider?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:14): Embarrassed laughs from those opposite as we take further measures to repair the devastation caused by the privatisation of ETSA.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier, can you sit down until we get some quiet?

Mr Pederick: Just say, 'Thank you, Mitch.'

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond, if I hear you again, you go out. Order! Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Energy prices are, of course, affecting many South Australian households and families, and they need to be given every advantage possible in managing their power bills and maintaining a competitive advantage in this newly competitive electricity and gas market. Consumers shouldn't feel as though they are being harassed in their own homes when trying to make important decisions about purchasing essential services such as gas or electricity. I have actually experienced this myself where, quite late at night, some young woman comes to the door and—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: You might think it's funny, but I actually thought it was quite tragic. It was a rainy night and she came to the door and warned me that, unless we signed up to some arrangement, it would soon be cancelled. I thought, 'What on earth is this young girl doing out at this time of night doing door-to-door sales? What on earth are they doing warning people?'

It was designed, of course, to frighten people into making decisions, and some pensioners and people from non-English-speaking backgrounds often find themselves pressured into signing because they think that something bad will happen if, in fact, they don't sign up. I actually thought it was disturbing and I thought that she should be home and that it was not funny at all.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, we are doing something about it. We are actually acting.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We are acting rather than—

Mr Pisoni: Did you report it to the Employee Ombudsman?

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley, order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Rather than, like those opposite, making cheap stunts on the eve of an announcement they get some advanced notice we are making, we are doing something about it.

Consumers shouldn't feel pressured into this. In the last 12 months to July, the South Australian Energy Industry Ombudsman investigated more than 14,400 complaints—an increase of 42 per cent. Of these complaints, 17.3 per cent related to sales and marketing issues. In light of these statistics, we are going to act to ensure that consumers have the right amount of choice and that retailers and salespeople adhere to standards which will be nation-leading standards.

The government will be implementing reforms that will see the development of an industry code of practice that ensures that salespeople are adequately trained, accredited and supervised, and operators will either be forced to lift their standards or risk being fined or deregistered. We will also look at the prohibition of exit fees and the introduction of a mandatory offering of at least one exit fee contract.

The performance of the South Australian energy retail market 2010-11 report notes that there is a significant increase in customer switching between retailers but, with respect to exit fees, consumers have to pay exit fees to be released from an energy contract and, of course, that locks them in. It is something that we think consumers should have an adequate choice about.

We will be engaging with the industry. We believe that this code should be mandatory. We believe that there should be penalties, but we will be consulting with industry to ensure that they give us their feedback. I understand the opposition, from this morning, are supportive of these initiatives, so we look forward to their support when we promote them in the parliament.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Transport and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition will stop talking to each other across the chamber. The member for Unley.

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