Energy and water bills produce credit file defaults more often than most people expect — moving house is the classic trigger. A final bill goes to the old address, never gets seen, and becomes a default that surfaces years later during a finance application. Utility defaults also have state-based ombudsman routes that many consumers never hear about.
Australian Specialist
Credit Clean Australia
Find What Is Hurting Your Credit Score
Understand what's affecting your credit score and what options you may have to fix it by booking a credit file assessment below.
Your Assessment Includes:
- Both Equifax & Experian credit files audited
- Potentially incorrect or disputable listings identified
- Understand what’s affecting your credit score
- Clear options and next steps
ASSESSMENT
EXPERIAN
GUIDANCE
Book Your Credit File Assessment
Book Your Credit File Assessment
1. Select a Date & Time
Checking live Calendly availability…
Enter Your Details
Calendly could not load here. Open the selected time in a new tab to continue.
Open selected time in a new tabWhat You Get in Your Assessment
Next Steps
Next Steps After Your Assessment
Investigation
We investigate the circumstances behind each listing on your credit file, identifying potential breaches of the Privacy Act or non-compliance with the Credit Reporting Code. This is completed with you over the phone through 40+ simple yes, no, or unsure questions, along with your personal circumstances at the time.
Approved or Denied
If our investigation identifies multiple potential breaches, you may be approved for our credit restoration services. If not, your application will be declined, and your consultant will explain why, providing complete clarity.
Note: Approval does not guarantee the removal of any listing.
Disputes & Result
Formal removal requests are lodged with Equifax, Experian, and relevant credit providers, with escalation to AFCA, the OAIC, courts, or other bodies where required.
If a breach is confirmed, listings may be removed, in most cases boosting your credit score and helping future finance applications.
How utility defaults happen
Energy retailers like AGL and Origin can list defaults under the same rules as any credit provider: the debt must be $150 or more, at least 60 days overdue, and the required written notices must have been sent to your last known address before listing. The “last known address” requirement is exactly where utility defaults go wrong — final bills and notices chasing an address you left months earlier.
Moving house: the classic dispute
If you closed your account properly and updated your details, but the retailer sent its overdue and intention-to-list notices to the old address anyway, the listing may not have been lawfully made. The same applies to accounts that kept billing after a properly requested closure, and to amounts inflated by disputed charges. Every one of those is checkable against the account records.
Think a listing on your file could be challenged?
Book a $39.95 credit file assessment — we audit both your Equifax and Experian files and tell you straight what can and can’t be disputed. If we can’t help, we tell you that too.
Each state has an energy ombudsman
Energy and water complaints go to state-based ombudsmen — EWON in NSW, EWOV in Victoria, EWOQ in Queensland, EWOSA in South Australia, EWOWA in Western Australia, and equivalents in the other states and territories. They are free, and they can deal with disputes about the account conduct behind a default listing. In our casework, energy matters regularly run through these schemes when the retailer’s own response falls short.
Hardship protections
Energy retailers operate under hardship obligations. If you were on a payment plan or had sought hardship assistance when the default was listed, that timing matters — listings made while an arrangement was in place may be open to challenge. Keep any letters, emails or reference numbers from hardship conversations; they are evidence.
What to do about a utility default
Get all three credit reports and identify every utility listing. Check the amounts and dates against your account history and your movements between addresses. If the listing looks wrong, lodge a correction request with the credit reporting body, complain to the retailer, and escalate to your state’s energy ombudsman if needed. Where the evidence trail needs to be forced out of the retailer, a specialist investigation helps — that is the work described on our default removal page. If the debt has been sold to a collector, read our guide on debt collectors and your credit score.
Does paying the energy bill clear the default?
Paying updates the listing to paid; it does not remove it. The default stays for five years from listing unless successfully challenged.
Can an energy default be removed?
Some can — where notices failed, amounts are wrong, the listing was made during a genuine dispute or hardship arrangement, or the account was not yours. No honest operator promises removal of a correctly listed default.
Don’t let a moving-day bill decide your borrowing power. See how default removal works, or book a credit file assessment above and we’ll check whether your utility listing stands up.
Start with the facts about your own file
A $39.95 credit file assessment shows you every default, judgement and enquiry on your Equifax and Experian files — and which ones may be open to challenge.
Book My Credit File Assessment →
✓ Secure ✓ Confidential ✓ Doesn’t affect your score ✓ 1300 739 860