What is Amber's Financial Hardship policy?

At Amber, we strive to treat all our customers with care and compassion. If you’re ever worried about not being able to pay your bill on time, we can assist with flexible payment options and additional support.

We also offer tailored plans that consider your capacity to pay, through our Financial Hardship program. You can view our Financial Hardship policy on our website here.

What does ‘hardship’ mean?

Hardship is when you would like to pay your energy bills but don’t have the money to do so. You might experience hardship because of factors like:

• death in the family

• household illness

• family violence

• unemployment

• reduced income

• other personal reasons
 

What is the hardship program?

The hardship program helps you get back in control of your energy use and bills. We tailor our support to meet your needs and will always treat you with respect, empathy and sensitivity. 

Through the hardship program, we offer a range of assistance, including:

• A one-off bill extension, if it is beneficial to avoid your account becoming overdue.
• Payment plan options that suit your situation and capacity to pay.
• Flexible payment methods, such as via Centrepay if you are eligible, BPAY and direct debit. 
• Energy-saving tips and advice to help you bring your energy costs down – you can find practical information about managing your energy usage with Amber here.
• Information on government and non-government financial assistance including concessions, grants and rebates, including help with eligibility and applications – you can find out more about concessions and government grants here.
• Assistance to help you lower your ongoing energy bills by understanding the tariff most likely to minimise your future costs, depending on the specific circumstances at your premise or your current energy setup, including any batteries participating in SmartShift.
• Putting your overdue balance on hold for up to six months while you work to repay it. 
• Referrals to financial counselling services.
• Assessing whether you are on our best offer, and switching you, if applicable to you.

It is important to get in touch with us so we can assess your eligibility for our hardship program and so that we can discuss your capacity to pay. We tailor our support to meet your needs and will always treat you with respect, empathy and sensitivity.

If a payment plan would be beneficial for you, we will help you to set one up that suits your needs. We will suggest a payment plan that takes into account how much you can pay, how much you owe and what your energy costs may look like over the next year. We will send you confirmation of this via your preferred method of communication.

We will continue to keep in touch with you while providing the assistance best tailored to your individual circumstances, including by providing information about your payment plan, and to provide you with information that may be relevant to you such as available tariffs that could lower your energy costs. It is important you keep your contact details up to date so that we can provide you with this information. You can find your contact details in the Amber app.

For more information about hardship programs and policies, and the support available in your state, click the relevant link below. 

https://www.amber.com.au/hardship

Struggling to pay your bills? 

You can give our dedicated hardship team a call Monday to Friday, 9:30am–5pm on +61 3 4320 5040 or email us at info@amber.com.au.