On Friday, June 18, Westpac put out a statement admitting fault for about 150 of the cheques from the Victorian Government being dishonoured.
“Impacted people will receive a newly issued cheque,” the statement said.
“Westpac will also provide an additional payment of $250 to compensate them for our mistake and cover the costs of this error. We apologise to those people who have been impacted by this mistake.”
The 12-month program was announced in February this year and offers a one-off $250 payment to help low-income households with their energy bills.
It is available to households with a Victorian electricity account who hold a pensioner concession card or receive JobSeeker, Austudy, Abstudy or Youth Allowance.
Echuca woman Barbara Day, 80, had the $250 cheque she received from the government as an eligible pensioner bounce back and was charged a $15 dishonour fee.
“I was really annoyed and thought how can they do this to me?” she said.
“It’s not fair because I know other people who got their money.
“I’m not paying the $15, they owe it to me – they’re the ones who have done it,” she said.
The Victorian Government is receiving between 8000 and 10,000 applications per week under the program and while most payments are being made electronically, some 23,000 cheques have been issued.
“Since the program was launched on February 1, more than 240,000 applications have been submitted,” a government spokesperson said.
“Of these more than 200,000 people have already received their bonus payments.
“We want as many Victorians as possible to have access to the power saving bonus and have worked to make the process as easy as possible with a number of support mechanisms in place.”
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said as well as Ms Day, he’d had another two constituents contact him because their cheques had also been dishonoured by their banks.
“Someone very senior in this government needs to get on the phone now, apologise to Barbara and the others, get them their $250 and also pay back the $15 penalty,” he said.
“None of our senior citizens enjoys going into their local bank to be told the Victorian Government has hit you with a dud cheque from an account with no money in it – I don’t know how that makes you feel but it leaves me very worried and with a lot of questions I want answered.”
The power saving bonus program runs until January 31, 2022, and eligible Victorians can apply at any time between now the end of the program.
There is no limit on the total number of payments available under the program, but only one payment is available to each household.
For email support contact info.vec@delwp.vic.gov.au or phone the Victorian Energy Compare helpline on 1800 000 832.
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