Blue NRG audit findings

Key audit results 2018–19

1. Blue NRG’s disconnection warning notices contained inaccurate overdue amounts. Blue NRG also did not have processes to identify and prevent wrongful disconnections.
2. Some Blue NRG customers did not receive complete information over the phone about prices before they gave their consent to be switched.
3. Prices on Blue NRG’s bills could not be verified to current retail contracts with their customers.
4. Blue NRG under-reported retail market data to us.

Recommended actions

We looked into the causes of these findings and recommended that Blue NRG: 

• Do not process any disconnections until they fix their disconnection warning notices and update its compliance systems to better detect and prevent wrongful disconnections.
• Update their sales call scripts to provide customers with complete information.
• Improve its record keeping of changes to retail contracts with customers.
• Check and validate retail market data before they submit it to us.

Next steps

Blue NRG have performed poorly in several areas of this compliance audit. It appears Blue NRG have not addressed past areas of non-compliance. We continue to closely monitor Blue NRG’s compliance and can take a range of compliance and enforcement actions in response to these audit findings. 

Further, retail market data is critical to our economic and market monitoring function and informs our risk-based regulatory approach. Blue NRG will be required to re-submit the previously inaccurately reported data and have their retail market data independently audited in 2020.

Read more about our Compliance and Enforcement approach and priorities.

Auditor: Grant Thornton
Audit period: 1 January – 30 September 2018
Audit history: This was their second audit since 2017, which followed up on past audit findings.