The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has today released an issues paper on the 2025–26 Default Market Offer (DMO 7) price determination. The issues paper is the first step in our process to determine DMO 7 prices and outlines the proposed updates and refinements aimed at improving our price setting methodology.
The DMO price is the maximum price a retailer can charge a standing offer customer in south-east Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. It aims to prevent retailers from charging unjustifiably high prices to customers on standing offers, while maintaining market competition and participation, it also serves as a reference price for market offers in these regions.
The AER is considering some changes in its approach to setting DMO 7 prices to ensure it responds to market developments and continues to meet the policy objectives. We welcome feedback on:
- how to best estimate an assumed load profile for residential customers given various adjustments to the Net System Load Profile (NSLP) dataset
- the best approach to including a diverse range of retailer costs to serve obtained from our own expanded retail cost data requests in the DMO price
- whether we should determine network costs under a blended network tariff approach.
The DMO 7 draft determination will be released in early March 2025, and the final determination will be published on 26 May 2025 (to come into effect on 1 July 2025).
Invitation for submissions
Stakeholder engagement is a valuable input to our determination. The issues paper sets out specific questions on key topics the AER is considering. Stakeholders can contribute to our price determination process by providing their positions or comments on our issues paper. We invite interested parties to make written submissions to the AER at dmo
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (dmo[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) by 8 November 2024.
We prefer that all submissions are made publicly available to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process. We will treat submissions as public documents unless otherwise requested. All non-confidential submissions will be placed on the AER's website. For further information regarding the AER's use and disclosure of information provided to it, see the ACCC/AER Information Policy.
Over the consultation period, we will also provide stakeholders with opportunities to meet with AER staff to discuss the issues paper broadly and clarify specific aspects or issues to inform a written submission.