Customer Charter
ABOUT THIS CHARTER
As part of our commitment to transparency and clarity on how we do business with our customers, we have outlined in this charter our commitments, our customer’s rights and responsibilities. As a consumer of electricity and natural gas in Australia, you have both rights and responsibilities. We, Radian Energy, will ensure that your rights are respected while you must fulfil your responsibilities. Our Customer Charter provides a summary of our responsibilities as your electricity retailer and your responsibilities as our customer. This Customer Charter also outlines what you, as a customer, need to know about your rights in respect of bills and charges, entitlements and obligations under your contract with Radian Energy and also our service commitment to you as a valued electricity customer. You should read this Charter in conjunction with the terms and conditions of your electricity supply contract with us. This Charter is for information purposes only and is not legally binding. You can download a copy of this Charter from our website. Upon request, we will mail you a copy of this Charter, at no charge.
ABOUT RADIAN ENERGY
You are welcome to visit our website for details about us at https://radian.com.au/about.
OUR AGREEMENT
Your Contract with us may be a Market Retail Contract whereby you accept an offer from us or a Standard Retail Contract (also known in Victoria as a Standing Offer Contract).
Market Retail Contract
If you have entered into a Market Contract with us, you may have accepted an offer from us to enter into a Market Contract to supply electricity to your supply address; in which case the terms, conditions, charges and period of your agreement will be set out in the agreement, which will be outlined in a welcome pack that is provided to you.
Standard Contract
We also offer a standard contract which is based on the regulatory requirement in each state requires us to offer, or sell electricity under, various standard agreements.
As per the Energy Retail Code applicable in your state, we are required to obtain your explicit informed consent before we can transfer you to us as our customer. We will make sure you understand that you are entering into a contract with us.
If you have not signed a contract with us, but take energy at a premise you moved into, where we supplied the previous resident, your account will default to the Standard Contract and Regulated Tariff prices in your State or Territory, and we will provide information in writing to ensure you are aware of your rights and details of our most competitive prices.
In Victoria, default retail customers can request to go onto our Standing Offer Contract at any time.
CONTRACT COMMENCEMENT AND TERMINATION
If you agree to a Market Contract with us, your contract starts on the date you accept our offer (subject to you satisfying the required conditions). If you move into a premise to which we supply the electricity, you will be deemed to have a Standard Contract with us (unless you arrange otherwise).
Cooling Off Period
When you enter into a Market Contract with us, you have a 10 Business Day cooling-off period to cancel your contract, and this begins from the day you receive your welcome pack with the terms and conditions. The terms of your agreement will set out how you can exercise this right. You can cancel your agreement by giving us written notice, by email or verbally during the Cooling-off Period. If you terminate your agreement within the Cooling-off Period, no termination fees are payable. A Standard Contract does not include a Cooling-off Period.
Cancelling Your Contract
If you wish to cancel your market, you are requested to contact us at the earliest. You will be expected to provide us with advance notice as per the terms of your agreement. However, if you have entered into a fixed term market contract with us and you wish to cancel the same after the cooling period off has expired, but prior to the end of the contract, you will be liable for any termination costs detailed in your contract. You are free to cancel your Standard Contract (without penalty) at any time by notice to us.
Expiration Of Your Contract
If you have entered into a fixed-term Market Contract, we will get in touch with you before the expiration date to notify you that the contract is due to expire and inform you about the fees and terms and conditions that will apply after the expiration of the fixed term contract. Unless we inform you otherwise, we will transfer you to our Market Contract upon the expiration of the fixed term contract.
ENERGY SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTOR
Your Distributor is responsible for the physical supply of electricity to your supply address and is a separate entity from Radian Energy. They own and manage and are responsible for the poles and wires which deliver the electricity to you. Some services you request from us are actioned by the Distributor (e.g. reading meters, new connections and changing / programming meters for solar, etc.). The quality or the reliability of the energy delivered to you by the distributor is not in our control. The time the Distributor has to complete these requests is determined by market rules. Your Distributor is determined by where your property is located and their name and contact details will be included in your bill.
MOVING IN AND MOVING OUT
Moving In
If you are moving into a new Supply Address, you are requested to call us at the earliest, so that we can arrange for an initial read of the meter and to and ensure supply of electricity to your new property. If your premises is not already connected to the distribution network, we may contact your electricity distributor to determine the availability of supply and to arrange for a new connection to your address. It would take some time to process a new connection, and we recommend that you get in touch with us at the earliest.
Moving Out
You must provide 3 business days’ notice if you are vacating your premise and you wish to terminate your contract. If you fail to give us this notice, you may remain responsible for all energy consumed at the premise, until another electricity retailer becomes responsible for the premises or we enter into a retail electricity agreement with a subsequent occupant. You will not be charged a termination fee if you are transferring your contract to new premises, providing you enter into a contract with us for that premise. The new contract may have different terms and conditions to your current contract.
ACCESSING YOUR PROPERTY
You distributor will need to have safe and convenient access to the meter in your property to:
read and inspect the meter or install a new meter
connect or disconnect the electricity supply
inspect or test the electrical installation
undertake repairs, maintenance, etc.
Please take action to ensure there are no obstructions (for example, a guard dog or locked gates) to our representatives.
BILLING, CHARGES AND PAYMENT
We will send you a bill for your electricity as per the frequency mentioned in your contact (at least once per quarter). You can choose to receive your bills by email by providing an email address to which we can send electronic invoices. If you have opted for paper invoices, these will be issued to your supply address unless you have specifically arranged an alternate billing address with us.
You are required to pay these charges and any other specific charges that apply to services we supply to you under your agreement with us within the specified time mentioned in the terms and conditions of the contract. You can choose one among the various payment options which are mentioned in the bill.
Your bill will include the following particulars:
your name and account number
supply address and mailing address
the unique national meter identifier (NMI) assigned to your Supply Address
the billing period, the bill issue date and the pay-by date for the bill
total amount payable by the customer, including amounts of any arrears or credits
tariffs and charges applicable to the customer
the basis on which tariffs and charges are calculated...
details of consumption or estimated consumption of energy
If you have provided a security deposit, the amount of that deposit;
any amount deducted, credited or received under a government-funded energy charge rebate, concession or relief scheme or under a payment plan
details of the available payment methods
contact details for account enquiries and complaints and another 24-hour contact telephone number for faults and emergencies
Tariff And Charges
All tariffs and charges payable by you are set out in the Contract along with the terms and conditions. If you are under a market contract with us, we may change tariff and charges by giving you notice as per the terms and conditions.
Meter Reading And Estimations
Your bill will be usually based on the actual reading of the meter at your premises, but in certain circumstances, it may be based on an estimation of your consumption of energy. We may base your bill on an estimation of your energy consumption when it is not possible to reasonably or reliably base the bill on an actual meter reading or metering data is not provided to us by the responsible person or metering coordinator.
The estimations will usually be based on –
the customer’s reading of the relevant meter
historical metering data for the customer reasonably available to us
the average usage of energy by a comparable customer over the corresponding period, if there is no historical metering data for the customer.
If the bill is based on an estimation, it will be clearly displayed on the bill, and relevant adjustments will be made to the bill at the subsequent reading or when we obtain a reliable meter reading otherwise.
Proportionate Billing
If a customer’s bill covers a period other than the customer’s usual billing cycle or a period during which the customer’s tariff changes, we will charge in proportion to the relevant periods and clearly show relevant details on the bill.
Historical Billing Information
On request, we will provide you with billing history for the last two years at no charge. However, there will be a nominal charge involved if we have provided you with this information more than four times in the last 12 months or if the requested billing history is of more than two years.
Bill Review
You may request a review of your bill, and we will conduct the review in accordance with our standard complaints and dispute resolution procedures and inform you of the outcome within any time limits applicable under those procedures. However, during the review, you must pay that portion of the bill under review that you agree is not the subject of review or the average amount of your bills in the previous 12 months, whichever is lesser.
If you request for the meter reading or metering data be checked or the meter tested, we may require you to pay for the cost of the check or test if the check or test shows that the meter or metering data was not faulty or incorrect.
If the bill under review is verified to be correct, you must pay for the cost of any tests or checks and pay any amounts outstanding. Should the review disclose an error, we will adjust the bill and refund any advance payment.
Undercharging And Overcharging
If we have undercharged you, we may recover from the amount undercharged from you stating the amount as a separate item in the next bill or in a special bill or, together with an explanation of that amount. We can only recover up to 9 months of any undercharged amounts unless the amount was, as a result of the customer’s fault or unlawful act or omission. No interest will be charged on that amount, and you will be offered time to pay that amount by agreed instalments, over a period nominated by the customer being no longer than the time you were undercharged (if less than 12 months) or otherwise over a 12 month period.
If we have overcharged you by error, we will inform you as soon as we become aware of the overcharging and we will repay that amount as reasonably directed by you. No interest is payable on an amount overcharged.
PAYMENT DIFFICULTIES
We understand that some customers may experience payment difficulties due to genuine financial hardship. If you’re having trouble paying your bill, we will do our best to help you. If you contact us, or we contact you believing that you are experiencing repeated difficulties in paying your bills, we may assess you for entry into our hardship program. You may also request an assessment for entry into our Hardship Program. If you enter the program, we will:
Cease any collection action we are taking
Work with you to set up an affordable payment schedule
Evaluate your circumstances to see if you are eligible for any Government concessions or grants
Provide you with information on how to reduce your energy use
Review your current tariff and contract arrangements
Our hardship program is accessible to any Residential Customer experiencing financial hardship who meets the criteria under our hardship policy. Please contact us if you are experiencing financial hardship so we can assist you in managing your energy accounts and usage.
CONCESSIONS
If you are eligible for a concession or rebate (or wish to enquire whether you are eligible), please contact us, and we will give you information about the availability of concessions, rebates or one-off grants to assist you in payment of your bill.
DISCONNECTION AND RECONNECTION
Subject to the terms of your contract, you may request us to disconnect your supply address at any time. We may also disconnect your supply but only within the rules set out by the applicable regulation. We can arrange for disconnection of your supply for your failure to pay your bill if we have given you all the prescribed reminder notices, including a disconnection warning which states that we may disconnect you and followed all applicable regulations.
You may be disconnected, or your supply interrupted, amongst other reasons:
if, due to your acts or omissions, we or your Distributor have been unable to access your meter
if you have tampered with the meter or you are otherwise using electricity in an unlawful manner
for health and safety reasons
for maintenance
We will arrange for the reconnection of your premises if, within ten business days of your premises being disconnected, if your request us provided, the matter that led to disconnection is paid and reconnection charges if any is paid.
PRIVACY
We understand the importance you place on privacy. We respect and protect the privacy of our customers in all our dealings. We will comply with all relevant privacy legislation while dealing with your personal information.
You can find a summary of our privacy policy on our website : https://radian.com.au
COMPLAINTS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
We value our customers and want to make sure that we are providing you with the best possible service.
If a problem should arise, please contact us immediately, and we will do everything we can to make sure that it is resolved to your satisfaction. We have a detailed complaints handling process which includes guidelines to ensure that all complaints and enquiries are handled professionally and in a courteous and efficient manner.
Our customer service representatives are available to help you with any general questions or concerns that you may have and can be contacted on 1300 805 925
If you believe that we have been unable to resolve your complaint satisfactorily, you may want to contact the Energy Ombudsman:
Website: https://www.ewov.com.au
Telephone: 1800 5000 599
Email: ewovinfo@ewov.com.au
