Synergy—Closed accounts—Payments
867. Hon Dr Steve Thomas to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation:
Sorry, this is "Happy Thursday". I refer to Synergy's acceptance of payments for closed accounts, originally for a mere 2,845 consumers but later for nearly 174,000 residential and commercial customers for a total of $40 million, that was made public last Friday.
(1) On what day in what month was the minister first advised of the brand-damaging $2.29 million overcharging debacle of 2,845 Centrepay customers?
(2) On what day in what month was the minister first advised of the brand-damaging $40 million overcharging of nearly 174,000 customers, which was announced by the media last week?
(3) In the case of (1) and (2), who first advised the minister?
Hon Stephen Dawson replied:
I love Thursdays, too!
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(3) Synergy formally advised the minister of the Centrepay matter on 19 March 2025. A potential wider overpayment issue was raised by Synergy on 14 July 2025, following which the minister instigated an independent review. The reviewers prepared an interim report on the overpayment issue, which was provided to the minister by the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification on 17 September 2025.
The President: Hon Neil Thomas. I mean, Hon Neil Thomson.
