March 14, 2013
The Electrical Trades Union said today it had received correspondence confirming that 62 meter reading jobs from Ergon Energy’s regional depots will be outsourced within a month.
State Organiser Trevor Gauld said the State Government had promised Queenslanders nothing would happen until the Costello Report was read and until the public had a say.
“The government is now pressing ahead with their privatisation agenda even though most LNP members haven’t even been given access to a copy of the report,” Mr Gauld said.
The Services Union Assistant Secretary Jennifer Thomas said the LNP was focusing on “privatisation by stealth” as the unions’ anti-privatisation campaigns were starting to bite.
“This makes a complete mockery of the government’s commitment to give due consideration to the Commission of Audit Report and to not privatise the energy sector without a mandate from the people,” Ms Thomas said.
Both unions said they had grave concerns about the impact of privatising the meter reading functions in Ergon.
“This will ultimately cost consumers money. In the UK, privatisation of the meter reading functions to outside contractors has led to a high volume of complaints to the regulator about overcharging electricity bills and a lack of customer service,” Mr Gauld said.
“If this model is followed in Queensland it will create a situation where customers with concerns about their electricity bill will now be forced to deal with three different call centres in an attempt to resolve their concerns.
“Profits formally returned to general State revenue will now be diverted to unnecessary layers of bureaucracy and the shareholders of these private companies.”
