Fair Go: The ultimate power play - what happens when three students take on an electricity giant over a $400 fee

Three students – Lani, Ashley and Sidney - signed up with giant amenities company Trustpower a year ago.

They took a 12 month contract – phone, internet, electricity – and 12 months of streaming service Neon thrown in.

Just before their 12 months was up though, they moved house and asked Trustpower for a final bill. It arrived – big shock – with a whooping early exit fee of almost $400.

The students had expected an exit bill of about $95 and told Trustpower it was incorrect. Told them, and told them and told them again.

But Trustpower kept insisting that they’d signed up for 24 months, not 12, and since that was what was written on their account – it must be right.

Long story short – the students were right, Trustpower staff got it wrong.

Trustpower have now apologised for both the mistake and the poor customer service, and they have promised to retrain their staff and use this as a case of what not to do.

And - they wiped the entire final bill – around $800 worth.

Lani, Ashley and Sidney are delighted, and say there are worthwhile lessons learnt here. 

They say it’s worth reading all the small print, worth talking to Mum and Dad, and when you know you are right, it’s worth the fight.