Understanding concession handling for off-market retailers

Customers in Australia who hold a concession card (typically pensioners and health-related) are entitled to receive a concession (discount on the electricity bill) from the Government.  Historically, it has been quite muddy for off-market retailers, and different retailers have used various models for dealing with Concessions.  

These are:

Not applying concessions

Exempt retailers are not required to apply concessions to their invoices—though they may choose to do so voluntarily. Instead, they can advise customers to visit Centrelink (in QLD and NSW) or DHS (in VIC) with their invoice to claim the concession in cash over the counter.

While this method is legally acceptable, it is generally considered the least customer-friendly option due to the extra steps required by the customer.

In contrast, authorised retailers are legally required to apply concessions directly to customer invoices.

 

Concessions applied & claimed via gate meter energy retailer

Some off-market retailers choose to apply concessions to their invoices and recover the cost through the gate meter supplier.

This can be done in one of two ways:

1. The customer completes an application form directly with the gate meter supplier, or
2. The retailer submits the application on the customer’s behalf, with the customer’s explicit, informed consent.

Once approved, the gate meter supplier applies the concession to their invoice issued to the off-market retailer, who then passes the discount on to the customer.

Under this model, the gate meter supplier, not the off-market retailer, is responsible for claiming the concession reimbursement from Centrelink/DHS.

While this model is compliant, it can be confusing for customers and involves a significant amount of manual setup and coordination between parties.

 

Concessions applied & claimed directly via CCeS/DHS 

Some off-market retailers collect concession card details directly from customers, validate them, and apply the applicable concessions directly to customer invoices.

Under this model, the gate meter supplier does not apply any concessions to their invoice to the off-market retailer. Instead, the off-market retailer submits a direct concession claim to Centrelink/DHS.

This is the simplest and most efficient option—it reduces confusion for customers and requires the least manual overhead.

Validation of concession cards can be done either manually or via batch lodgment to Centrelink for customer information. 

How Utilmate supports this process

Utilmate makes this process easy and streamlined:

• Customers can submit concession card details via the MyAccount customer portal. Utilmate will create an activity and flag the status as Requested Validation. This way, staff are notified of the change and can start the process of validating the card.
• For batch lodgment, the Requested Validation concession cards can be exported to a file and submitted to the CCeS interface for validation.
• The validated and rejected cards response file, for a batch lodgment, can be imported into Utilmate using the Upload Files dialog by selecting the Import Concession CCeS Validate Response under the Run Scheduled Tasks option on the Dashboard.  
• Claims are submitted through CCeS eServices using the Utilmate Concessions Card report.  This report can be downloaded so you can review, check, and sort the data as needed.

A valid CCeS account is required for both a single or batch lodgment request process.  You can apply here: How to apply to use Centrelink Confirmation eServices for businesses – Services Australia.

Upload validated and rejected cards response file

Click on the Upload button on the Run Scheduled Tasks widget section of the Dashboard screen. 

The Upload Files screen will appear. Select Import Concession CCeS Validated Response from the dropdown list. Choose your file and press Upload. This will update the status of the cards in Utilmate. 

Note that there is no interface to run as the Upload completes the import and processing of the file.

For rejected cards, open activities will be created against the customer with follow-up action information. The activity type created: 'Concession card failed CentreLink validation' and assigned to Customer Service.

Run the Concession Card Report to view each Validation Message and sort by Validated Date descending.