WA Parliamentary Question on Notice regarding the number of requests for Hardship Utility Grant Scheme (HUGS) assistance referred to financial counsellors by Synergy and Horizon Power in October 2011, broken down by suburb/town.

AnsweredQoN 1116Legislative Council
Asked
30 November 2011
Portfolio
Energy

QuestionView source ↗

HARDSHIP UTILITY GRANT SCHEME — SYNERGY AND HORIZON POWER
(1) For October 2011, for each suburb or town, how many requests for hardship utility grant scheme assistance were referred to financial counsellors for assessment by each of — (a) Synergy; and (b) Horizon Power? (2) For October 2011, for each suburb and town, how many requests for hardship utility grant scheme assistance were not referred to financial counsellors for assessment by each of — (a) Synergy; and (b) Horizon Power? Hon PETER COLLIER

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) (a) Synergy does not refer customers in financial hardship directly to the Department for Child Protection, apart from certain scenarios that are currently being trialled. Rather, they are referred to a financial counsellor to be assessed for eligibility for a HUGS grant. If the financial counsellor determines the customer is in hardship, they would then apply for a HUGS grant with DCP, advising what utility the payment should be sent to. Synergy referred 1 236 customers to financial counsellors to be assessed for eligibility to receive a payment as part of the hardship utility grant scheme in the month of October 2011. Synergy does not maintain statistics on what town or suburb referred customers live in, and it would require undue resources to do so retrospectively. (b) Horizon Power referred 88 customers to financial counsellors to be assessed for eligibility to receive a payment as part of the hardship utility grant scheme in October 2011. Horizon Power is provided with remittance notice on accounts that are credited with HUGS payments. The timing of referrals and receipt of remittance notices may occur in different months, and as such Horizon Power cannot readily identify which of the October 2011 applications had a HUGS payment credited to their account. The suburbs and towns are: Brockman, one; Broome, 15; Bulgarra, four; Cable Beach, two; Carnarvon, four; Derby, two; Esperance, 14; Exmouth, four; Gibson, one; Karratha, one; Kununurra, four; Laverton, one; Leonora, two; Meekatharra, five; Menzies, one; Morgantown, one; Mt Magnet, one; Nickol, two; Port Hedland, one; Roebourne, two; South Hedland, 14; Wiluna, two; Wyndham, three; and, Yalgoo, one. (2) (a) Synergy does not maintain records of how many customers were initially assessed as not being eligible for referral to a financial counsellor. (b) Horizon Power does not maintain records of how many customers were initially assessed as not being eligible for referral to a financial counsellor.
(b) Horizon Power?
(b) Horizon Power?
I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) (a) Synergy does not refer customers in financial hardship directly to the Department for Child Protection, apart from certain scenarios that are currently being trialled. Rather, they are referred to a financial counsellor to be assessed for eligibility for a HUGS grant. If the financial counsellor determines the customer is in hardship, they would then apply for a HUGS grant with DCP, advising what utility the payment should be sent to. Synergy referred 1 236 customers to financial counsellors to be assessed for eligibility to receive a payment as part of the hardship utility grant scheme in the month of October 2011. Synergy does not maintain statistics on what town or suburb referred customers live in, and it would require undue resources to do so retrospectively. (b) Horizon Power referred 88 customers to financial counsellors to be assessed for eligibility to receive a payment as part of the hardship utility grant scheme in October 2011. Horizon Power is provided with remittance notice on accounts that are credited with HUGS payments. The timing of referrals and receipt of remittance notices may occur in different months, and as such Horizon Power cannot readily identify which of the October 2011 applications had a HUGS payment credited to their account. The suburbs and towns are: Brockman, one; Broome, 15; Bulgarra, four; Cable Beach, two; Carnarvon, four; Derby, two; Esperance, 14; Exmouth, four; Gibson, one; Karratha, one; Kununurra, four; Laverton, one; Leonora, two; Meekatharra, five; Menzies, one; Morgantown, one; Mt Magnet, one; Nickol, two; Port Hedland, one; Roebourne, two; South Hedland, 14; Wiluna, two; Wyndham, three; and, Yalgoo, one. (2) (a) Synergy does not maintain records of how many customers were initially assessed as not being eligible for referral to a financial counsellor. (b) Horizon Power does not maintain records of how many customers were initially assessed as not being eligible for referral to a financial counsellor.
(1) (a) Synergy does not refer customers in financial hardship directly to the Department for Child Protection, apart from certain scenarios that are currently being trialled. Rather, they are referred to a financial counsellor to be assessed for eligibility for a HUGS grant. If the financial counsellor determines the customer is in hardship, they would then apply for a HUGS grant with DCP, advising what utility the payment should be sent to. Synergy referred 1 236 customers to financial counsellors to be assessed for eligibility to receive a payment as part of the hardship utility grant scheme in the month of October 2011. Synergy does not maintain statistics on what town or suburb referred customers live in, and it would require undue resources to do so retrospectively. (b) Horizon Power referred 88 customers to financial counsellors to be assessed for eligibility to receive a payment as part of the hardship utility grant scheme in October 2011. Horizon Power is provided with remittance notice on accounts that are credited with HUGS payments. The timing of referrals and receipt of remittance notices may occur in different months, and as such Horizon Power cannot readily identify which of the October 2011 applications had a HUGS payment credited to their account. The suburbs and towns are: Brockman, one; Broome, 15; Bulgarra, four; Cable Beach, two; Carnarvon, four; Derby, two; Esperance, 14; Exmouth, four; Gibson, one; Karratha, one; Kununurra, four; Laverton, one; Leonora, two; Meekatharra, five; Menzies, one; Morgantown, one; Mt Magnet, one; Nickol, two; Port Hedland, one; Roebourne, two; South Hedland, 14; Wiluna, two; Wyndham, three; and, Yalgoo, one. (2) (a) Synergy does not maintain records of how many customers were initially assessed as not being eligible for referral to a financial counsellor. (b) Horizon Power does not maintain records of how many customers were initially assessed as not being eligible for referral to a financial counsellor.

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