Free Republic

Synergy is facing new revelations it has overcharged West Australians for power. (ABC News: Cason Ho) More than 170,000 customers have been overcharged a total of $40 million by WA's state-owned energy retailer Synergy since 2009, it has been revealed. The overpayments range from amounts under a dollar, to thousands of dollars, according to Synergy CEO Kurt Baker, who said most of those affected were residential customers. "We've accepted payments to approximately 170,000 closed accounts, resulting in overpayments," he told ABC Radio Perth. "In many cases this has happened because Synergy's allowed customers to continue to pay to their closed...

Your life is dominated by algorithms and you know next-to-nothing about how they work or what consequences they have.With Facebook's news feed controlling the (fake!) news we see and the algorithmic robo-debt debacle engulfing Centrelink, it's time we knew more about the algorithms having a growing impact on our lives. Has an algorithm affected your life? Do you work with any algorithms we should investigate? Tell us about it. Key points: We're looking into how algorithms are changing our lives It's more interesting, important and complicated than you might imagine We've collected some interesting reporting on how algorithms are influencing...

Centrelink has admitted it unwittingly allowed two of Australia's most notorious paedophiles to get back in touch with each other. Dennis Ferguson wrote to Centrelink asking for his contact details to be passed on to former partner in crime Alexandria Brookes. The two were convicted and jailed in 1988 for abducting and raping three children in Queensland. As part of his parole conditions Brookes was banned from having any contact with Ferguson or other paedophiles. Centrelink will today shut down the In Touch program which gave Ferguson's contact details to Brookes. It is the latest controversy surrounding Ferguson, who was...