Most organisations strive to avoid their names being brought into disrepute by the way they handle complaints. Unfortunately, my recent dealings with the Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW (EWON) have left me questioning whether its processes serve the interests of consumers as effectively as they should. Many other small business owners have raised similar concerns through #EWONComplaints and #EnergyDisputes forums.
The background
On 8 February 2025, our company’s Surry Hills office was damaged by fire and has been unusable since. Because the premises – not just us, but an entire floor – are unoccupied, we have not been using any electricity there.
Despite notifying our energy retailer, Powershop, that no electricity was being consumed, it has continued to issue bills – at rates higher than when the office was in daily use.
This prompted me to lodge a formal complaint with EWON, the independent scheme that is meant to help resolve such disputes.
The problem
While my initial experience with EWON was encouraging, the handling of my case since then has been troubling. In my view, key evidence has been overlooked, critical correspondence has not been meaningfully addressed and significant facts purposefully ignored, and the process has become bogged down in technicalities rather than focusing on the straightforward reality that no electricity could have been consumed after March 5, when the power supply to our floor was cut off.
Cases like this are increasingly cited in #NSWEnergyComplaints and #ElectricityBillingProblems, highlighting the gap between what EWON promises and what it delivers.
I provided EWON with written confirmation from the project manager overseeing construction works at our building, who clearly stated that the main feed to our level had been terminated.
This, beneath, is the critical evidence, in an email from Kevin O’Neill, that project manager responsible for the remedial construction work being carried out at 35 Buckingham Street, stating unequivocally that it, “terminated the main feed to level three to make safe the works on that floor. This work was completed on March 05, 2025.
Yet, instead of this being accepted as evidence, the resolution offered so far has struck me as inadequate and unconvincing.
This pattern mirrors other #EWONReviews circulating online, in which consumers allege #OmbudsmanFail and poor accountability.
Bizarrely, in EWON’s representative’s reply, while I had referred to the evidence supporting our case being made by the project manager working on fixing the property, they made reference to a “property developer.”
This is clearly yet another nonsense, written by someone not thinking clearly at all about what they are writing.
What property developer keen to move on is likely to have any interest in a building it completed over 20 years ago and which has been in daily operation every day since?
I closed that letter by stating:
“Against this evidence, the resolution you have presented to us is simply laughable and not good enough, and I would be happy to stand up in any court in the land in our defence against Powershop’s despicable efforts to steal from us…
“Sorry, but I am not impressed by my dealings to date with EWON, and having done my research, I now know where to complain. As a former copy editor on the Australian Financial Review newspaper, I also know extremely well how the media works, so if Powershop comes after me, I will make this embarrassing spectacle public. Somehow, I can’t see this doing you or EWON any favours, either.”
Why this matters
Consumers rely on EWON to hold energy retailers accountable and to ensure fair treatment.
Yet, when #PowershopComplaints and #PowershopOvercharging claims are left unresolved, small businesses like mine remain exposed to unfair practices.
On its own website, EWON says: “We plan our activities and measure our success against six industry-standard benchmarks: accessibility, independence, fairness, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness.”
If its processes, however, fail to consider straightforward evidence properly, then small businesses like mine are left vulnerable to being charged for services we have not and can not have used.
I am publishing this account because I believe that experiences like mine raise broader questions about whether EWON is fulfilling its mandate to protect consumers. And heaven help those less able than I am – the aged, the illiterate, those whose first tongue isn’t English, the indigenous, and so on – to hold its shortcomings to account in defence of their own interests.
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