On 25 October 2016, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) accepted an application from Charter Hall Holdings Pty Ltd for an individual exemption from the requirement to hold a retailer authorisation under the National Energy Retail Law (Retail Law).
The AER has considered Charter Hall's individual exemption application and decided, on 16 December 2016, to refuse the exemption in accordance with rule 157 of the National Energy Retail Rules.
In arriving at this decision, the AER has given consideration to the information provided in the application by Charter Hall and the requirements of the Retail Law and the Retail Exempt Selling Guideline (Guideline).
The AER decided that Charter Hall did not satisfy the requirements of an individual exemption application in that it did not:
- provide all the information required by the Guideline
- sufficiently or satisfactorily engage with affected customers, in particular it failed to inform customers about the AER's consultation process on the application
- provide evidence of mitigation of detriment, in particular access to retail competition and dispute resolution