13AA   Licence condition relating to customer hardship charters

(1)  It is a condition of a licence of a supplier who supplies electricity to small retail customers that the supplier must:

(a)  develop and implement a customer hardship charter in respect of small retail customers who own or occupy residential premises, and

(b)  publish the customer hardship charter on the supplier’s website, and

(c)  as soon as practicable after a customer is identified by the supplier as a hardship customer:

(i)  inform the hardship customer of the existence of the customer hardship charter, and

(ii)  provide the hardship customer with a copy of the customer hardship charter on request and at no expense.

(2)  The purpose of a customer hardship charter is to identify customers experiencing payment difficulties due to hardship and to assist hardship customers to better manage their energy bills on an ongoing basis.

(3)  A customer hardship charter must contain the following:

(a)  processes to identify hardship customers, including identification by the supplier and self-identification by the customer,

(b)  processes for the early response by the supplier for hardship customers so identified,

(c)  flexible payment options (including the payment plan operated in accordance with clause 13A (1)) for the payment of amounts to the supplier by hardship customers,

(d)  processes to identify appropriate government concession programs and appropriate financial counselling services and to notify hardship customers of those programs and services,

(e)  an outline of a range of programs that the supplier may use to assist hardship customers,

(f)  information, in community languages, about the availability of interpreter services for the languages concerned and telephone numbers for the services,

(g)  processes to review the appropriateness of a hardship customer’s negotiated customer supply contract in accordance with the purpose of the customer hardship charter.

(4)  It is a condition of a licence of a supplier who supplies electricity to small retail customers that the supplier must, in implementing the supplier’s customer hardship charter, do the following:

(a)  waive any fee for late payment of a bill by a hardship customer,

(b)  if a payment plan is agreed with a hardship customer, notify the customer of the date by which each instalment is to be paid,

(c)  if a hardship customer requests (whether or not it is a payment option in the customer’s supply contract), permit the customer to make payment by Centrepay,

(d)  give effect to the general principle that discontinuance of supply or disconnection due to inability to pay electricity bills should be a last resort option,

(e)  ensure that the conditions of a hardship customer’s negotiated customer supply contract are varied as necessary to be consistent with the implementation of the supplier’s obligations under this clause.