00:00Peter Doyle was left in disbelief when he received a letter from his electricity provider.
00:07Now I'm going up to $1.10 a kilowatt hour and a daily supply charge of $1.60.
00:14I thought is it right or incorrect so I rang him up.
00:17His retailer Engie informed him that his new contract was correct even though it included
00:23a $1.10 per kilowatt hour peak price which is more than double what most households pay.
00:29I reached out to other retailers and said you shouldn't be charged this, it's impossible.
00:35But they were trying it out.
00:37It's just outrageous, it's just not feasible, it's not keeping up with costs, it's just
00:44remarkable and breathtaking that anyone will offer this.
00:47Engie, which also owns the Pelican Point power plant in Adelaide's West, also revealed in
00:52the fine print that Peter Doyle's estimated annual electricity cost would increase to
00:57$6,233, 120% above the default market offer.
01:04In South Australia we pay the highest energy prices in the nation.
01:08We also have the highest levels of energy debt, so we desperately need a fairer system.
01:14When the ABC initially contacted Engie over Peter Doyle's price rise, the company maintained
01:20the letter was correct.
01:21It wasn't until the state government took the billing issue to the Australian energy regulator
01:26and the company's CEO that it admitted a mistake had been made.
01:30In a statement, Engie said up to 3,000 customers had been impacted by prices that were too high.
01:37We sincerely apologise for any confusion and are working hard to remedy the situation as quickly
01:43as possible.
01:44The problem we have is that the market is broken and with a broken market you get broken
01:49outcomes like this and that's why we need to intervene and make sure that we can give
01:53consumers better rights so they can actually retaliate and get cheaper prices.
01:58The Australian energy regulator said in a statement it is now engaging with the company.
02:04If there is evidence of a breach, the AER will consider and take action as appropriate.
02:09Peter Doyle has now been given a new deal by Engie at less than half the initial rate but
02:26he remains sceptical about the prices people in SA are being charged.
02:31As a consumer, especially in this state, they are just pulling that wool over our eyes.
02:36Affected Engie customers should receive their price corrections in the coming days.
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