MEDIA RELEASE EMBARGOED UNTIL 15 MARCH Financial and Consumer Rights Council http://home.vicnet.net.au/~fcrc/ email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] UNFAIR DEAL: A CONSUMER AUDIT OF ELECTRICITY, GAS AND WATER INDUSTRY REFORMS by Beverley Kliger The state government reforms to energy and water industry have denied Victorian consumers their right to essential water, heat and light. A research report released by the Financial and Consumer Rights Council, _An Unfair Deal_ documents 215 case studies of the harsh and unacceptable treatment of ordinary people by the electricity, gas and water industry. The report sets out the process to deliver a non-disconnection policy and calls on the government to continue the role of the Officer of the Regulator-General as a social regulator and makes 37 recommendations for change which fall into six key areas. Bev Kliger says 'the state government has focused on the financial returns that can be made from basic services of electricity, gas and water and ... it must now focus on the social effect of the reform process.' Her research reveals that in 47% of the case studies the companies demanded instalment payments that people could not pay. Utility companies should operate as good corporate citizens by allowing low income and vulnerable people to pay affordable amounts and maintain an adequate standard of living. As a support to the research report, _An Unfair Deal_, the January/February edition on the Consumer Rights Journal 'Flogging Utilities' provides background information on the privatisation of utilities that appears in the research report. [see http://home.vicnet.net.au/~fcrc/crj/3_2a.htm ] Copies of the research report _An Unfair Deal_ and the _Consumer Rights Journal_, 'Flogging Utilities' are available from the Financial and Consumer Rights Council. Phone 9641 5433 or email us direct ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) and we will send you a copy of the required publication and invoice you direct. The cost of the research report is $15 plus $6 for postage and handling. The cost of the latest issue of the CRJ is $10 plus postage and handling. Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
