Category Archives: Centrepay

Regulator may take action against three energy retailers over alleged misuse of Centrepay system

Posted on by

Australian Energy Regulator weighs up enforcement options against AGL, Origin and Ergon Energy after landmark court win

The national energy regulator is weighing up whether to take new action against three retailers for their alleged use of the Centrepay system after a landmark court win against AGL.

The Australian Energy Regulator won a major case in the federal court against AGL in August after alleging the energy giant used the government-run payment system to wrongly take welfare money from almost 500 customers for years after they ceased being customers.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

AGL breached rules 16,000 times in wrongly taking welfare money from hundreds of people, court rules

Posted on by

Landmark federal court judgment could trigger proceedings against three other energy retailers

AGL breached Australian energy rules more than 16,000 times through its use of the government-run Centrepay system to wrongly take welfare money from almost 500 people years after they ceased being customers, a court has ruled.

The landmark federal court judgment could trigger proceedings against three other energy retailers, which were referred to the regulator following a Guardian investigation into failures of the Centrepay system.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Guardian Australia wins award for series exposing economic abuse at Centrepay

Posted on by

Reporters Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam win outstanding consumer affairs category at Kennedy Foundation awards for excellence in journalism

Guardian Australia reporters Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam have won an award for a series of stories that revealed the government-run controversial debit pay system was being used as a vehicle for economic abuse.

The reporters won the outstanding consumer affairs category at this year’s Kennedy Foundation awards for excellence in journalism.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Media exposure has forced the government’s hand on Centrepay. The contrast with robodebt could not be more stark

Posted on by

The Centrepay revelations should shock Australians – but not the government, after years of complaints about financial exploitation

In the months since the government announced it would overhaul its controversial Centrepay debit system, one thing has become abundantly clear.

Many already knew it was failing.

Continue reading...

Consumer watchdog urges crackdown on businesses using Centrepay to cause financial harm

Posted on by

It is alleged energy companies deducted money from welfare payments of people, including Indigenous Australians, who were no longer customers

The consumer watchdog has joined a group of regulators, lawyers and financial advocates calling for a crackdown on predatory businesses using the government-run Centrepay to cause financial harm to welfare recipients, including Indigenous Australians.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair Catriona Lowe said the watchdog had heard complaints about Centrepay – a debit system giving businesses early access to people’s welfare money – for “many years”.

Continue reading...

‘Unscrupulous’ businesses abused Centrepay to take welfare money from dead Australians, advocacy groups claim

Posted on by

Advocates also detail flaws in automated debit system that prevented clients stopping their deductions

The government’s Centrepay debit system has been abused by “unscrupulous” businesses to take welfare money from dead Australians and Indigenous women fleeing domestic violence, advocacy groups claim.

The government last month announced a major review of Centrepay, an automated debit system designed to give businesses early access to a person’s welfare money to ensure they can afford essential services such as rent and healthcare.

Continue reading...

AGL’s use of Centrepay not audited for two years despite allegations it wrongly took $700,000 from vulnerable Australians

Posted on by

Services Australia says it is also working to retrieve overpayments from Queensland’s Ergon Energy

The federal government has not audited AGL’s use of Centrepay in two years despite revelations that the energy giant wrongly received more than $700,000 in welfare money from its former customers through the government-run debit system.

A Guardian Australia investigation of Centrepay, a system allowing businesses access to welfare payments before they hit recipients’ bank accounts, has revealed significant failings.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Financial abuse’: how a debit scheme to help vulnerable Australians led to exploitation instead

Posted on by

A Guardian investigation has revealed that Centrepay is exposing scores of welfare recipients to financial harm. Advocates say the government must act now

In February the Albanese government announced a $97m compensation scheme for thousands of Aboriginal people who lost all that they had paid to the predatory funeral insurer ACBF-Youpla.

When ACBF-Youpla collapsed in 2022, it left more than 13,000 Aboriginal people, some of them elderly and in palliative care, without the means to pay for funerals.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Government ignored warnings more than 100 companies may be misusing Centrepay scheme, Asic says

Posted on by

Services Australia’s failure to act ‘inexcusable’ and urgent action needed to help people struggling to get by, senators say

The corporate regulator repeatedly warned Services Australia that it should review and consider removing more than 100 companies from a government-run debit scheme that allows early access to welfare payments.

But it said its attempts to sound the alarm about potential misuse of the scheme have had no impact.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Second energy firm wrongly received money from welfare payments under Centrepay scheme

Posted on by

Services Australia is working with Ergon to return overpayments, prompting fears the issue first identified at AGL could be widespread

A second Australian energy company wrongly received money from the welfare payments of former customers, prompting fears that the issue identified at AGL could be widespread.

Guardian Australia revealed last week that $700,000 had been diverted via the government-run Centrepay debit system from the pockets of more than 500 welfare recipients to the energy giant AGL.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...