Form Section Structure
 
 

Add your name to CHOICE’s super complaint on sneaky energy bill tactics

Together, we can show the consumer watchdog that thousands of people are waiting and expecting action on the energy retailers and their sneaky bill tactics.

 

Add your name below:

Campaign Section Structure

 

 
 
 
 

It shouldn’t be this hard to know if your energy company is ripping you off

At a time when we're all looking for ways to save, confusing and potentially misleading energy plans could be costing Australians millions. 

A new CHOICE investigation has found that many energy retailers reuse identical names for energy plans despite offering them at different prices, use words like ‘save’ to describe poor-value plans and advise consumers to switch to plans that may not even be available to them. These practices make it nearly impossible to know how to switch to the best deal.

That’s why CHOICE has lodged its first super complaint to the ACCC calling for an investigation into whether energy retailers have broken the law by using potentially misleading or deceptive tactics to describe and promote their energy plans. 
Finding a good energy plan is confusing enough without energy retailers using dodgy tactics that make it nearly impossible to know if you’re getting ripped off. At a time when we’re all looking for ways to save, energy companies are making it harder and harder to know what you’re paying and why.

Together, if we can show that thousands of people support and expect action against the energy retailers and their sneaky bill tactics, the complaint will be much stronger. 

Add your name to the complaint in support of action against the energy retailers now. 

Read the complaint

Want more detail? Check out the full complaint.

View and Download PDF 

FAQs

CHOICE collected almost 400 energy bills from supporters between January and March 2025, and of these, we found 64 examples of retailers telling consumers to switch to a plan with identical names but different prices. Some consumers mistakenly believe this bill tactic is simply a mistake or an offer available only to new customers and are missing out on savings. Across the 64 bills using identical names, consumers could have saved an average of $171 per year if they had switched. CHOICE estimates that the practice of reusing identical names for plans with differing prices could, in aggregate, be costing Australian consumers approximately $65 million a year in savings.

It’s a new framework that gives CHOICE and certain other advocates special status to make designated complaints to the ACCC. These complaints must be about significant or systemic issues affecting consumers and we can only make one per year – so we only use this for the biggest problems we see. CHOICE makes complaints to the ACCC all the time, but what’s different with designated 'super' complaints is that the ACCC must respond publicly in 90 days – but that doesn't mean they have to take action.
You can find the CHOICE’s full complaint to the ACCC here. 
Learn More Campaign Anchor

Learn more

Error Modal Container
Scripts Block