Making complaints

Who deals with complaints about power companies?

The Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner Scheme (EGCC) is a free service that deals with complaints from consumers about electricity and gas retail and line companies.

The Commissioner can only deal with complaints about companies that belong to the scheme (all gas and electricity retailers must belong to the scheme.) For a list of member companies visit www.egcomplaints.co.nz/members

The current Commissioner is Judi Jones, a Wellington-based lawyer and former chairperson of the board of Consumer NZ. 

How do I make a complaint?

There are a number of steps you must take before you make a complaint to the Commissioner:

• You must make a "formal" complaint to your electricity or gas company or, where appropriate, your local lines business. To make absolutely sure there is no confusion about the nature of your complaint, we suggest you write to the company concerned and head up your letter "formal complaint".
• The company then has 20 working days to respond.
• If at the end of this time, you are not able to resolve your complaint with the company, you can complain to the Commissioner's Office.

To contact the Commissioner

To make a complaint, contact the Commissioner by:

• Email: info@egcomplaints.co.nz
• Website: www.egcomplaints.co.nz
• Phone: 0800 22 33 40
• Mail: Freepost 192682, PO Box 5875, Lambton Quay, Wellington 6145