The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has started a review of its Retail performance reporting procedures and guidelines (2023 update) (the Guidelines), which set out the manner and form in which energy retailers must provide performance data to the AER.
We have published an issues paper to seek stakeholder input on how we can improve the Guidelines. The Guidelines should enable us to collect data we require to effectively monitor retail market outcomes without imposing unnecessary costs on retailers. A sound and timely understanding of retail market outcomes will help inform policy work and target our compliance and enforcement priorities.
The issues paper seeks input on specific changes being considered, which include:
- introducing indicators to understand more about customers to whom retailers have specific requirements to support (e.g. customers in embedded networks, on life support or affected by family violence)
- refining indicators to improve definitional clarity and comparability between retailers
- increasing the frequency and granularity of certain data to better observe retail market dynamics
- consolidating indicators, including removing indicators that may no longer add value.
We aim to complete our review of the retail guidelines by January 2024, with an implementation date of 1 July 2024.
Consultation
Stakeholders are invited to join a virtual public information session hosted by the AER on 20 July 2023 11 am to 12:30 pm AEST. Please register your interest to join by emailing your name, organisation and email address to MarketPerformance
aer [dot] gov [dot] au by close of business 18 July 2023. Submissions on the issues paper are invited from interested stakeholders by Monday, 7 August 2023.