Exempt selling occurs when a person or business purchases energy from a retailer and on-sells the energy to their customers, commonly through an embedded network. The AER governs who can on-sell energy without becoming an authorised retailer, and the conditions exempt sellers have to comply with, via its Retail Exempt Selling Guideline. An exempt seller’s core business is not the sale of energy.
The AER has published its draft Retail Exempt Selling Guideline (version 6) for public consultation, which includes a copy of newly established documents:
- draft AER factsheet titled How to access retailers for your energy needs if you live in an embedded network
- draft Exempt Seller Hardship Policy template.
Most of the amendments to the guideline involve revision or ‘fine-tuning’ to support exempt sellers to understand their compliance obligations and ensure protections are accorded to customers. However, there are some key amendments that may be of particular interest to stakeholders:
- the introduction of a new hardship policy condition
- the introduction of a new information provision condition for exempt sellers to provide their customers with an AER factsheet. This factsheet sets out for these customers the process, and the difficulties they may face, if they want to purchase energy directly from a retailer
- clarifying our expectations that conversions to embedded networks must only occur when prospective customers are fully informed of the impacts and provide their consent
- the introduction of a requirement to provide evidence of steps taken to obtain ombudsman scheme membership, as part of the individual exemption application process.
Our reasons for these proposed changes to the Retail Exempt Selling Guideline (version 6) are set out in the notice of draft instrument.
Invitation for submissions
We are now seeking submissions from interested stakeholders on the AER’s draft Retail Exempt Selling Guideline (version 6), draft AER factsheet and draft Exempt Seller Hardship Policy template. We will accept submissions up until close of business 7 April 2022.
Network Exemptions Guideline review
The draft Network Exemptions Guideline (version 7) was to be published alongside the draft Retail Exempt Selling Guideline (version 6) for consultation at the same time. However, the AER has decided to defer its release while further changes are made to streamline and simplify the document. This has required further time than originally anticipated.
We will notify interested stakeholders when the AER’s draft Network Exemptions Guideline and notice of draft is published and will seek submissions in due course. We anticipate this to occur in the next 2 to 3 months. You can subscribe to receive email updates by selecting type 'Exemptions' or continue to visit the AER’s website for further updates.