Carbon price complaints to ACCC falling
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says complaints about carbon tax-related price claims are starting to fall.
Releasing its second general update since the carbon price came into effect, the ACCC says the number of complaints it is receiving has fallen from an average of 63 per day in the first 10 days to about 45 a day.
It says the number of carbon price-related complaints is relatively small compared with the more than 900 complaints and enquiries the ACCC receives on a typical day.
The total number of complaints related to companies making misleading carbon price claims reached 1,260 by July 24.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims says most of the complaints are due to confusion between businesses and their customers about how much of a price increase is due to carbon pricing and how much is due to other factors.
"Even where a business has tried to ensure its representations are clear and accurate, a stray comment from an employee that casually refers to price increases as being carbon related when they are not could result in a complaint to the ACCC," Mr Sims said.
"Businesses that make a good-faith attempt at calculating the effect of the carbon price have nothing to fear from the ACCC."
Warning letter
He says the ACCC has been investigating up to 20 businesses at a time to understand the claims being made and undertake enforcement action if it thinks misleading claims have been made.
The regulator says it has spoken to hundreds of businesses since July 1 and has issued about 30 firms with an educative or warning letter.
It has also received undertakings from two solar panel companies, Retail Food Group (which owns Brumby's Bakeries) and Equipserve Solutions (a refrigeration service provider) not to make further misleading claims related to the price impact of the carbon tax.
The regulator says it has received a diverse range of complaints in relation to retail, personal services and hospitality businesses, as these sectors have the most regular contact with consumers.
In many of these cases the ACCC says it has found a staff member has made a claim about the carbon tax impact on prices without the knowledge of the business owner.
It says the most common response has been an educative letter to the business owner and a request that staff be educated about the legal responsibility not to make misleading claims.
However, the ACCC also notes that some retail and hospitality firms have blamed price increases on the carbon tax in a way that may be deliberately misleading and says it will be less tolerant and take stronger action in these cases.
The ACCC says further actions are likely to be launched against other companies over the next few weeks.
Source: ABC News, 26 July 2012
