Jack Overpaid
Background
- Jack had his Gas and Electric supplied by the same retailer.
- Each bill came at different times but were associated to one account.
- Jack liked to keep his records straight, so calculated and made payments, to match the self-meter-reads that he sent to his retailer.
- Jack wanted to reconcile the account fully from day 1, to see where his account balance really was as he noticed his account was not recording the payments as he had paid them.
The self-reads were ignored and the payments were instead being allocated according to the estimate bills, so there was an obvious mis-match.
Supporting Actions
- Jack used the ‘Check Account Balance’ feature in PowerBill™ to find out his real account balance.
- In doing so, Jack showed that he had paid $40 dollars more than what was balancing in his account records.
- Jack submitted a Dispute Inquiry with his retailer (coupled with a case lodged with the Energy & Water Ombudsman (EWON) introducing an independent reviewer).
Resolution
- Under the EWON process, Jack and the Provider have 28 days to resolve the matter between themselves.
- During that time it was agreed after examination of the ‘Actual’ usage data and the payments made, Jack had overpaid, and the extra funds were not being accounted for correctly.
- The necessary adjustments were made so the account balanced to zero.