
Horizon Power says customers not affected by Synergy Centrepay scandal
On July 14 the Economic Regulation Authority revealed that Synergy had collected cash through Centrepay — a payment service for Centrelink customers — after vulnerable clients had closed their accounts.
It found the government-owned utility, which is the monopoly supplier of electricity on WA's main grid thanks to laws banning competition, overcharged nearly 2845 customers since 2009.
Horizon Power, who is the main electricity supplier to regional grids across the State, confirmed that a similar situation had not occurred with their customers.
'Horizon Power is aware of recent reports regarding inactive accounts and can confirm our customers have not been impacted,' a Horizon Power spokesperson said, speaking to the Broome Advertiser on July 18.
Regulators found Synergy allegedly failed to notify customers that they had been overcharged within the required 10 business day time frame before hitting the company with an enforcement notice for breaching the State's code of conduct for electricity retailing.
The ERA believed $2.3 million remains owed to the Centrelink customers
Just hours later, Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said there would be an independent review of Synergy's billing systems.
Synergy began contacting customers in April and has so far paid back just 30 per cent of the money owed.
Synergy chief Kurt Baker — who has been at the helm since January — said the business 'apologises sincerely' to affected customers. He said Synergy had notified the regulator of the breaches.
'We recognise that the Centrepay bill management system is in place to support vulnerable customers and in this instance, they were let down,' Mr Baker said.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
a day ago
- West Australian
Contracts awarded in ‘largest and most important' project to bring Midwest renewable energy to Perth
Disruptions to households are inevitable during the construction of Western Australia's largest energy infrastructure project, according to Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson. Ms Sanderson said on Wednesday morning $342 million worth of contracts had been awarded to three companies to construct more 26.5km of overhead transmission lines to better connect Perth to renewable projects. UGL Engineering, GenusPlus and Acciona will all take part in projects on the lines as well as constructing terminals which will run from Western Power's Northern Terminal in Malaga to Three Springs. Work is already underway on the projects. Ms Sanderson acknowledged there will be disruptions during the work but said the project was an important one. 'With any major infrastructure project you're going to get disruptions, but this is critical to essentially connecting households to clean energy,' she said. 'The community quite rightly expects and demands that they have access to renewable energy, reliable, affordable, renewable energy, and that's what this trade transmission line will deliver.' The South West Interconnected System is the energy grid which connects the South West of Western Australia, running from the Midwest to the Goldfields and Great Southern. According to the State Government the upgraded infrastructure would connect Perth homes to around 400MW worth of existing wind power and a further 1GW of renewable energy to come. Ms Sanderson said impacted communities and individuals would be consulted. 'Western Power have been consulting carefully with local governments impacted along the line route, with individual land holders as well,' she said. 'They've gone through all of the appropriate approvals processes, enormous amount of meticulous planning and approvals work has been undertaken to deliver this project. 'I'm confident that the team at Western Power and our contracting partners will manage that carefully.' Western Power chief executive officer Sam Barbaro said the upgraded infrastructure would allow the renewable energy to reach the Perth market. 'Some of WA's, and indeed the world's, best renewable resources are in the Midwest of Western Australia which creates significant opportunities for our state for large-scale solar and wind generation,' he said. 'That's why the Clean Energy Link North project is so important, it will unlock these amazing resources and take that renewable energy to the community where it needs it.' Shadow energy minister Steve Thomas said while the upgrades were welcome, there was a lack of long-term public planning. 'We all know and acknowledge that more transmissions lines are needed and in fact the Government is years behind where it needed to be if they were to be any chance at all of completing their energy transition by their target date of October 2029,' he said. 'This announcement is premature however, as it commits hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars before the plan defining how the transition will work has even been finalised and released. 'The Government's Whole of System Plan was released in 2020 but was rapidly out of date. An updated version was due to be released in 2023, but two years later we're still waiting for it.' Ms Anderson said she intended to release the 'broad SWIS plan' later in the year to provide plans on the exact configuration of the transmission lines.


West Australian
6 days ago
- West Australian
Horizon Power says customers not affected by Synergy Centrepay scandal
Horizon Power has confirmed that none of its customers have been affected by the Synergy Centrepay scandal which overcharged nearly 3000 vulnerable customers since 2009. On July 14 the Economic Regulation Authority revealed that Synergy had collected cash through Centrepay — a payment service for Centrelink customers — after vulnerable clients had closed their accounts. It found the government-owned utility, which is the monopoly supplier of electricity on WA's main grid thanks to laws banning competition, overcharged nearly 2845 customers since 2009. Horizon Power, who is the main electricity supplier to regional grids across the State, confirmed that a similar situation had not occurred with their customers. 'Horizon Power is aware of recent reports regarding inactive accounts and can confirm our customers have not been impacted,' a Horizon Power spokesperson said, speaking to the Broome Advertiser on July 18. Regulators found Synergy allegedly failed to notify customers that they had been overcharged within the required 10 business day time frame before hitting the company with an enforcement notice for breaching the State's code of conduct for electricity retailing. The ERA believed $2.3 million remains owed to the Centrelink customers Just hours later, Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said there would be an independent review of Synergy's billing systems. Synergy began contacting customers in April and has so far paid back just 30 per cent of the money owed. Synergy chief Kurt Baker — who has been at the helm since January — said the business 'apologises sincerely' to affected customers. He said Synergy had notified the regulator of the breaches. 'We recognise that the Centrepay bill management system is in place to support vulnerable customers and in this instance, they were let down,' Mr Baker said.

The Age
15-07-2025
- The Age
I don't see the point of compound interest. Why is it so great?
I have an investment with Vanguard, and I wonder what will happen if I choose fortnightly Auto Invest and decide to withdraw my funds after ten years. I will have created 260 cost bases for capital gains. Does Vanguard help me with this on my final statement? I asked this question of Vanguard and so far, have not got an answer. What is your take? Vanguard says if you set up an Auto Invest plan using your Vanguard Personal Investor Account, your cost base is tracked automatically. Each year, Vanguard will issue you an annual tax statement that pulls together all the relevant details for the ATO – interest, dividends, distributions, capital gains or losses, and any cost base adjustments. The statement includes tax guide references and is available after 30 June under the Statements tab in your account. Regarding the age pension and the assets test: I'm thinking of buying a new motorhome for around $200,000. How does Centrelink value it – both immediately and over time? I've been told not to overvalue assets, but at the same time, I don't want to undervalue it and get into strife with Centrelink. Your guidance would be appreciated. Centrelink requires pensioners to value their assets at market value, which is defined as the amount you could reasonably expect to receive if you sold the asset on the open market. You're not required to obtain a professional valuation, and Centrelink will generally accept a reasonable estimate. It's important to regularly update the estimated value of depreciating assets such as home contents, motor vehicles, boats, and caravans. Notifying Centrelink of reductions in value over time can help increase your age pension entitlement. Loading In the case of a $200,000 motorhome, around $20,000 of the purchase price will be GST. So, a reasonable starting estimate for Centrelink purposes might be in the ballpark of $180,000. I recommend revisiting the valuation every six to twelve months to ensure it remains in line with market value. Failing to notify Centrelink of depreciation may result in you being underpaid. My father died several years ago, and my mother has recently entered aged care. I understand we have two years to sell her house before it affects her pension. However, I couldn't find anything about the CGT implications for me and my siblings if Mum dies before the house is sold – specifically, the difference between the estate selling the house versus us inheriting the property. The plan is to sell the house and inherit the proceeds, not shares in the property itself – which I believe avoids CGT. Julia Hartman of Bantacs tells me that if the house is being rented out, you can continue to cover it with her main residence exemption for up to six years. If it is not earning income, the period is infinite – assuming she was fully covering it with her main residence exemption before moving to aged care, and it was not producing income while she lived there. Then, when she dies, if it has not been used to produce income (or only for six years), it is treated the same as if she died while still living there, and you still get the two years to sell.