Customer Escalation Consultant

The Customer Escalations Consultant is responsible for managing and resolving a broad range of complex and escalated customer enquiries and complaints in a fair and equitable manner, in accordance with organisational policies and procedures and in line with, and exceeding where possible, applicable regulatory requirements and industry codes. The role works closely with Process Leads and Customer Solution teams, acting as a subject matter expert in complaint resolution and escalation management, and contributes to the development and implementation of supporting strategies and continuous improvement initiatives to improve customer outcomes.

• Be the escalated or first point of contact for all telephone and written customer enquiries and aim to facilitate a first call resolution.
• Be able to confidently have conversations with customers on a large variety of issues eg bill enquiries (inbound and outbound), complaints, payments, move ins/move outs. Received, over the phone and written communications (mail and electronically).
• To effectively manage day to day customer enquiries and complaints for business and residential customers whilst working with a view to continuously improve outcomes.
• Be willing to learn all aspects of the retail business and perform additional duties within the department as required by the manager.
• Effectively case manage multiple customers to achieve efficient customer centric outcomes, and meeting regulatory requirements.
• Ensure that the Company’s compliance obligations are actively maintained, managed and kept up-to-date with particular focus on cyber security and data protection and the compliance obligations allocated to the position title as identified in the Company’s Register of Compliance Obligations (as set out in the Compliance Procedure and as amended from time to time).

• Managing complex customer enquiries and payment difficulties.
• Managing sensitive, complex, and sometimes confronting customer circumstances and situations.
• Being able to work through high volume of customer data and files.

• Customer & financially focussed. 
• Ensure accurate and timely resolution of Customer Enquiries 
• Ability to resolve a range of debt & hardship related issues.
• Understanding of system reporting, identification of problems and providing solutions. 
• Systems and process improvement. 
• Understanding the Electricity & Gas retail customer lifecycle.

Knowledge and experience:   

• Tertiary qualifications in a relevant field will be highly regarded but not mandatory.
• Minimum 3 years credit, collection, or customer vulnerability experience within an Energy Retail Business 
• Contact centre experience, including handling inbound/outbound calls and admin tasks.
• Case management experience.
• Extensive knowledge of the Essential Services Commission and Australian Energy Regulator processes and policies to support customers facing Hardship and Family Violence, including a key understanding of the Victorian Payment Difficulty Framework (PDF)
• Experience dealing with Life Support processes and associated regulatory obligations.
• Knowledge of the Privacy Act, Hardship (all jurisdictions) 
• Well-developed administrative and computer skills

Skills:              

• Passionate about supporting customers.
• Demonstrated strong people/communication skills, ability to assist and have effective conversations with extremely vulnerable and high-risk customers.
• Ability to deal with conflict situations utilising sound negotiation skills 
• Ability to work autonomously and as part of a team to deliver high quality work within deadlines.
• Self-starter who can demonstrate high initiative, an ability to manage multiple tasks and manages their time effectively to manage workload. 
• Strong attention to detail with a high level of accuracy 
• Excellent problem-solving skills. 
• Ability to clearly explain and define issues/outcomes. 
• Sound judgment and decision making skills. 
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills