By Vanessa Pratley
Investigative Journalist | Kaipūrongo Whakatewhatewha
In 2025, Australian consumer advocacy group Choice noticed something fishy going on with some Aussie power bills. Retailers advertised newer, cheaper power plans, but they had the same name as customers’ current, more expensive plans.
Understandably, customers didn’t switch because they thought they were already on the cheaper plans. It hit some Australians hard in the pocket and risked a breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
So, Choice gathered its evidence and complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Just months later, the regulator began investigating the conduct of various power companies.
This might seem a surprisingly quick response in the world of consumer and competition issues, where too often, unfair or illegal practices run under the radar, going undetected and unchallenged for years.
But a change in Australian legislation in 2024 meant that Choice could be made a designated complainant, giving it the ability to file a ‘super complaint’ to the ACCC, and the regulator had a legal obligation to acknowledge that complaint.
Choice was delighted to be one of the first advocates in Australia to be given special status as a ‘designated complainant’ for super complaints.
“Our rigorous and independent product and service testing, consumer research and tip-offs from our 400,000-strong supporter and member base across Australia make Choice uniquely positioned to identify the biggest issues facing consumers and bring them to the ACCC’s attention,” said Rosie Thomas, Choice director of campaigns and communications at the time of the law change.
So, what is a super complaint power, and should we have one in Aotearoa?
What is a super complaint?
A super complaint is a power given to select consumer or business groups by law. The law gives the designated groups an opportunity to make a complaint to regulators about conduct or market features that affect consumers and their lives on issues ranging from fair trading to finance and insurance.
Under such laws, regulators must acknowledge and respond to the complaints.
Choice is just one of three designated complainants in Australia. But super complaints aren’t an Australian invention: they’ve existed overseas for many years now.
In the United Kingdom, the consumer advocacy group Which? made a super complaint in 2016 about banks and their treatment of victims of authorised push-payment fraud.
In its response, the regulator declined to take the actions Which? recommended at the time. However, the complaint later prompted law changes, with the government introducing a mandatory reimbursement scheme for victims.
As was demonstrated in that case, a regulator isn’t bound to investigate every issue raised by the designated complainants, or do what a complainant says, but once a super complaint has been made, the regulator has a specific period in which to respond, and it must do so publicly.
Advocates are pushing for a super complaints power
FinCap is a charitable trust that supports the work of hundreds of financial mentors in Aotearoa and helps find solutions to address systemic issues that prevent financial wellbeing.
Jake Lilley, senior policy advisor at FinCap, thinks a complaints power would help revolutionise how complaints about widespread issues within the financial services sector are dealt with in this country.
“It would … give the public greater confidence that our regulators will be addressing issues of non-compliance with financial markets’ conduct laws.”
Lilley explains that FinCap has seen systemic issues in the finance sector where impacted consumers are unlikely to report to regulators.
“Consumers have other things going on in their lives, … [including] financial challenges, so engaging with the regulator is just not practical for them … Whereas if [FinCap could] gather enough evidence, we could get that in front of the regulator, and we’d have that guarantee, if there were a 90-day requirement (as is the case in Aussie and over in the United Kingdom), for them to come back to us,” he says.
“We know it’s worth going that extra mile to [highlight] issues affecting a lot of people but not currently being addressed.”
A super complaints power could also put money back in the pockets of consumers who are facing financial pressures.
“In Australia, it’s early days in terms of seeing what the designated complainants are able to achieve with their new power. But you can see the amount of money that’s already gone back to people in the United Kingdom, where … tens of billions of pounds [have been] returned to consumers since the power was introduced over two decades ago,” Lilley says.
While the potential for more monetary compensation alone is compelling, the ability to get important issues in front of regulators who have an obligation to respond is especially exciting, particularly for advocacy organisations like Consumer NZ.
Sure, we’ve had wins, but some complaints we’ve made haven’t been successful, and we know of many complaints made by others that haven’t got anywhere either. A statutory requirement for a regulator to respond means important issues will get the attention they deserve right at the start. A response also gives complainants a greater possibility of closure.
It’s time for Aotearoa to have a super complaints power
Aneleise Gawn, Consumer’s senior legal and policy advisor, agrees it’s time for Aotearoa to catch up with its international counterparts.
“Enabling designated consumer advocacy organisations to bring super complaints to the Financial Markets Authority and the Commerce Commission about widespread practices that are harming consumers would significantly strengthen consumer protections.”
However, a requirement for the regulators to respond within a set time frame will be key, says Gawn.
“Giving trusted consumer organisations the formal power to prompt regulatory intervention within a set time frame would bring Aotearoa into line with best practices in the United Kingdom and Australia,” Gawn confirms.
And she thinks Consumer NZ should be one such designated complainant.
From green claims that go unsubstantiated and unfair contract terms that are prolific in standard-form consumer contracts (even though they’re illegal), to buy-now-pay-later schemes getting people stuck in spiralling debt, a super complaints power could be instrumental in helping us change the face of countless consumer issues for good.
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