18 April 2023

On 9 December 2022 National Cabinet agreed to the Energy Price Relief Plan.  As part of the plan, the Australian Government is working with state and territory governments to provide up to $3 billion in targeted electricity bill relief to residential consumers and small businesses facing rising energy costs.

Section 37 of the Better Bills Guideline (Version 2) provides that the AER may approve information as 'Tier 1 information' that is otherwise not defined as Tier 1 information. In response to a request from the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the AER considered making a decision under section 37 of the Guideline to approve a statement to the following effect to be included as part of Tier 1 information for all retailers:

Your electricity bill has been reduced by your eligibility for a $x rebate funded by the Commonwealth and state governments under the Energy Price Relief Plan.

More detail can be found in AER's letter below to energy retailers.

2 May 2024

We received 9 submissions (including one confidential submission).

26 June 2023

On 26 June 2023, the AER made the decision under section 37 of the Better Bills Guideline to approve the following statement about the bill relief rebates as Tier 1 information. 

The Australian Government and your State or Territory government are supporting customers to reduce bills. Check the understand your bill section to see whether you have received a rebate or concession. More information on rebates and concessions can be found on energy.gov.au.

The AER considers the message, as required under the National Energy Rules, contributes to the achievement of the bill objective by assisting customers to easily find information to help them understand their bill amount, while minimising regulatory costs and addressing stakeholder concerns. 

Our reasons for decision are set out in an open letter to retailers dated 6 July 2023.

10 August 2023

Since the AER published its previous section 37 decision on 6 July 2023, we have received further feedback from stakeholders about the implementation of the energy rebate message.

Some retailers highlighted that the length of the previous message made it challenging to accommodate in their billing systems. In response to this feedback, we have reduced the length of the messages to make them as short as possible, while retaining the necessary information to ensure it is useful to customers.

We also received feedback from some jurisdictions, who considered that the generic phrase 'your state or territory government' is likely to be unclear to customers. To address this concern, we have determined a single message for all states, and separate messages for ACT retailers, including ActewAGL Retail. This will provide greater clarity for customers in each state and in the ACT.

In light of this information, on 10 August 2023, the AER decided to:

• revoke the 6 July 2023 decision to implement a single generic message.
• make a new decision under section 37 of the Guideline to approve new messages as 'Tier 1' information, depending on whether they live in a state, the ACT, or are a customer of ActewAGL Retail.

The final messages are:

For electricity customers who live in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania or Queensland

The Australian Government and your State Government are supporting customers to reduce bills. Check the understand your bill section to see if you have received a rebate or concession. More information at energy.gov.au

For electricity customers in the ACT, other than customers of ActewAGL Retail

The Australian and ACT Governments are supporting customers to reduce bills. Check the understand your bill section to see if you have received a rebate or concession. More information at energy.gov.au

For electricity customers of ActewAGL

The Australian Government and your State or Territory government are supporting customers to reduce bills. Check the understand your bill section to see if you have received a rebate or concession. More information at energy.gov.au

A letter was sent to retailers advising them on the decision and new messages on 10 August 2023. 

27 September 2023

On 27 September 2023, the AER decided to amend its previous 10 August 2023 decision made under section 37 of the Better Bills Guideline version 2, requiring retailers to include a statement on small customers’ electricity bills as part of Tier 1 information. 

The amendment is that the energy rebate message included in the previous decision will not apply in relation to residential electricity customers in Queensland. This is because the Queensland Government has advised the AER that it intends to derogate from the current Tier 1 message in order to implement a new Queensland specific Tier 1 message for residential electricity customers in Queensland.

A letter was sent to retailers advising them of the decision on 27 September 2023.

28 June 2024

On 5 June 2024, the AER received a request from the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for the AER to consider exercising its powers under section 37 of the Better Bills Guideline to amend the four existing Tier 1 energy bill relief statements to a single proposed statement, which would apply to both residential and small business customers.

On 28 June 2024, the AER decided not to amend its previous 10 August 2023 decision (as previously amended on 27 September 2023) made under section 37 of the Better Bills Guideline (Version 2) in line with this request. 

However, the AER has made other amendments to this decision in response to changes to the National Energy Retail Law (Queensland) Amendment Regulation 2024.

The amended decision:

• removes the statement previously required on electricity bills for small customers in Queensland other than residential customers
• requires retailers selling electricity in Queensland to use their best endeavours to include a statement on electricity bills for all small customers which is consistent with the message required in South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania (with the exception of Icon Retail Investments Limited and AGL ACT Retail Investments Pty Ltd, trading as ActewAGL Retail)
• retains the existing statements required on small customers’ electricity bills in South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT, including the existing statement required on the electricity bills of small customers of ActewAGL.

The amended decision is set out in a letter to retailers dated 1 July 2024.