1st Energy Pty Ltd

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from electricity retailer 1st Energy Pty Ltd (1st Energy) for making representations to consumers that likely breached the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

1st Energy has admitted that during certain unsolicited telemarketing calls made between 18 February and 23 August 2019, its third party sales representatives did not make it clear that they were calling on behalf of 1st Energy and instead made representations that were likely to be false or misleading, including that:

1. they were calling on behalf of Tasmania's incumbent electricity retailer Aurora Energy Pty Ltd (Aurora), or from independent energy comparators or experts, in contravention of sections 18 and 29(1)(h) of the ACL;
2. the consumer was eligible to receive a discount on their current electricity plan with Aurora, when in fact the quoted discounts were from 1st Energy's plans, in contravention of section 18 of the ACL; and
3. the consumer was only being provided with information about electricity services or discounts and would have an opportunity to make a decision whether to receive the supply of energy from 1st Energy after the marketing call, when this was not the case, in contravention of sections 18 and 29(1)(m) of the ACL.

1st Energy has provided the ACCC with a section 87B undertaking that it will, among others things:

• refrain from engaging in the conduct;
• write to its affected customers offering to assist them to return to Aurora should they wish to do so; and
• update its compliance program to ensure that it includes a review of its quality assurance program relating to unsolicited calls, ongoing ACL compliance training and a complaint handling system for ACL complaints.