AER releases draft Statement of Approach for the price comparator website and draft amended Retail Pricing Information Guideline

The AER has today released three documents for consultation on its proposed approach to the development of its national price comparator website as required under the National Energy Retail Law.

A draft Statement of Approach details the AER’s proposed approach to the price comparator website, including required inputs from the user, the display of available offers to the user, and ensuring the website is accessible to users.

Views expressed in submissions to the general issues paper released on 27 July 2011 and the accompanying public stakeholder forums on 17 and 25 August 2011 have been considered in the development of the draft Statement of Approach. The draft Statement of Approach is available at the AER's website.

A draft amended AER Retail Pricing Information Guideline (the draft amended Guideline) amends the AER Retail Pricing Information Guideline published on 12 September 2011. The draft amended Guideline includes an additional section providing direction to energy retailers about the provision of data and information to the AER for the purposes of the price comparator website. The draft amended Guideline has been published in accordance with the retail consultation procedure set out in r.173 of the National Energy Retail Rules and any additional content and changes have been underlined or struck through for ease of reference.

An accompanying Notice of Draft Amended Instrument (the Notice) outlines the draft amended Guideline consultation procedure and the reasons for and process involved in the development of the amendments to the Retail Pricing Information Guideline.

The draft amended Guideline and Notice are available at the AER's website.

The AER is inviting stakeholder views on the positions laid out in the draft Statement of Approach, draft amended Guideline and Notice. Submissions can be emailed to AERinquiryaer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERinquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) (marked with the relevant document title and attention to Dianne McGrath) and must be received by 2 December 2011.

Alternatively, submissions can be mailed to:

The AER will also be holding a public stakeholder forum on the draft Statement of Approach on 17 November 2011. The forum will be held in Melbourne, from 10 am to 1 pm (AEDT) and will be video linked to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart and Sydney. As there has been extensive stakeholder consultation on the original Retail Pricing Information Guideline, the scope of the forum will not include discussion on the draft amended Guideline and Notice. However, as discussed above, written submissions to the draft amended Guideline and Notice are invited.

To register your attendance, please send an email to AERInquiryaer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERInquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au)  by Thursday 10 November 2011, indicating the city in which you will attend. The subject of the email should state: “Registration for price comparator website stakeholder forum: attention Dianne McGrath”.