The Commission shall consider complaints from consumers or other stakeholders in the electricity industry if the matter raised falls within the Commission's purview. Parties complaining to the Commission should first attempt to resolve the matter directly with the licensee or other entity involved. To facilitate this, licensees have been required to develop Customer Charters setting out the services to be expected, how to complain if such services are not received and how the licensee will attempt to resolve the complaint - these charters also include performance standards the licensees will meet and compensation payable if they fail to do so.

Complaints can be submitted to the Commission at any time. However, in general, complaints will not be entertained if an attempt has not been made initially to resolve the issue with the party in question or if the complaint is submitted more than six months after the incident to which the complaint relates unless satisfactory reasons can be provided as to the reasons for the delay in submitting the complaint.

Complaints submitted to the Commission should, in general, follow the complaints form specified and accompany written evidence of the complaint initially submitted to the party in question as well as reasonable efforts made to resolve the issue. The Commission shall not accept anonymous complaints.

Upon receiving a complaint, the Commission will verify that it relates to a matter that it has jurisdiction over and thereafter:

1. contact the party against whom the complaint has been made, describe the nature of the complaint and invite the party to comment;
2. review the complaint in the light of the comments received and, possibly contact you for further information. If necessary, contact the party against whom the complaint has been made following the receipt of such further information;
3. where the complaint is considered to be justified, seek to resolve it using the dispute resolution mechanism [identified below?]; and
4. where the complaint is considered unjustified, dismiss it and provide in writing reasons for such dismissal.
5. If the complaint relates to an issue of wider interest, the Commission may choose to deal with it through a regulatory review following the process [described below?].

The Commission shall acknowledge the receipt of complaints in writing, generally, with five working days of receipt and intimate whether it is appropriate for the Commission to deal with the matter. Where the Commission is able to deal with a complaint, comments shall be invited from the parties involved, generally, within ten working days of receiving the complaint. The time taken for comments to be provided will vary depending on the nature of the complaint, but in general this shall not exceed ten working days after writing to the parties involved. Responses to the comments received, if necessary, will be required with another five working days.