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Can we look into your complaint?

When can we look into your complaints? 

Before we can look into your complaint your provider (the company providing you with electricity, gas, water, broadband, or broadband installation(shared property)) must have an opportunity to resolve your complaint with you.  

We can still help you before then by answering questions you may have, creating an easy-to-understand summary of your complaint and helping any discussion between you and your provider – but we can’t begin to look into your complaint until: 

  • 20 working days have passed since you first raised the complaint to your provider, or 
  • the provider has made it clear that they intent to do nothing about the complaint, or 
  • you would suffer unreasonable harm from waiting longer for a response, or 
  • it would be otherwise unreasonable for you to wait any longer. 

What we can look into: 

Your complaint needs to be about: 

  • electricity, or 
  • piped gas, or 
  • LPG in bottles 15kg and over, or 
  • shared property access during fibre installation, or 
  • water service from a provider belonging to the scheme, or 
  • broadband service from a provider belonging to the scheme. 

Remember, you can always contact us to see if we can help.   

For more information on the types of complaints we can manage, you can read our info sheets or our complaint case examples.  

If you’re unsure if UDL can help with your complaint – simply contact us at 0800 22 33 40 or via our website. 

What we can’t look into: 

We can’t look into a complaint if: 

  • the complaint is just about the price the provider has set for its goods and services; however, we may consider if the provider has supplied appropriate information and if the price has been applied correctly 
  • the time since you reasonably should have become aware of the circumstances causing the complaint has passed: 
    • 6 years (electricity and gas) 
    • 1 year (water) 
  • you are seeking compensation exceeding the limit of the specific scheme 
    • $50,000, unless the provider agrees to extend to $100,000 (gas and electricity) 
    • $15,000 (water) 
    • $50,000, unless the provider agrees to extend to $100,000 (broadband) 

There may be other reasons why we cannot look into your complaint. If we find a reason to not consider your complaint, we’ll let you know.