Default Market Offer (DMO) 2025-26 draft determination

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today released its draft determination for the Default Market Offer (DMO) for electricity prices in 2025–26, known as DMO 7.

The DMO is an electricity price safety net for residential and small business customers on standing offers in New South Wales (NSW), South East Queensland (SE Queensland) and South Australia (SA). It also acts as a reference price for all other market offers in each region.

Cost increases across nearly all components of the DMO have resulted in draft DMO 7 prices for residential customers increasing between 2.5% and 8.9% compared with DMO 6, depending on the region. Small business customers could see rises between 4.2% and 8.2%.

AER Chair Ms Clare Savage acknowledged it remained a challenging time for energy consumers, particularly those impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

“This is a very difficult time for many communities across northern New South Wales and South East Queensland who have been or remain without power following ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred,” Ms Savage said. 

The AER will be working with retailers to ensure they are focused on the need to support affected customers during this time. 

As extreme weather events increase in frequency, the AER has also been providing additional guidance to networks that are working to increase resilience, including their ability to withstand and recover from these events. 

“We know that cost-of-living pressures are front of mind for many households and small businesses. 

“We’ve seen cost pressures across nearly every component of the DMO, and we have given careful scrutiny to every element of the DMO cost stack to ensure prices are a reasonable reflection of the costs of a retailer to supply electricity,” Ms Savage said. 

Wholesale market and network costs, the two largest components of DMO prices, have seen increases of 2% to 12% for the majority of customers. 

Average wholesale market spot prices increased across 2024, impacted by factors such as high demand, coal generator and network outages, and low solar and wind output that drove high price events across DMO regions. These high price events have also affected the price of wholesale electricity contracts for 2025–26. 

Network costs increased for most customers, with some customer types in SA and SE Queensland seeing network costs decrease. 

Multiple and varying factors have contributed to rising network costs in each region, including inflation and interest rates leading to a higher rate of return. 

Retail costs are a smaller component of DMO prices than wholesale and networks costs, but these have also increased due to growing costs reported by retailers.

The AER has considered the current economic environment and not applied a separate competition allowance for retailers in its draft determination.

“While economic conditions have eased somewhat, underlying inflation remains elevated and the Reserve Bank of Australia has noted the economic outlook remains uncertain. The draft DMO prices therefore do not include a competition allowance.

“Not including the competition allowance will also alleviate a small amount of cost-of-living pressure on consumers,” Ms Savage said.

Ms Savage also noted that retailers’ more competitive market offers have generally reduced in price since the last DMO came into effect on 1 July 2024 and encouraged consumers to seek a better offer with their current or another retailer.

“The DMO is intended as a safety net for those who don’t or can’t shop around, but there are better offers available.

“By early February 2025 we had seen median market offers fall between 2% and 5% compared with July 2024, and the most competitive offers are now 19% to 25% below the current DMO price.

“It’s important that consumers regularly shop around to compare available deals and ensure they’re on the best plan for their individual circumstances.

“Your retailer is required to tell you on the front page of your bill at least once every 100 days if they can offer you a better deal. But you don’t have to wait to visit our free and independent website – Energy Made Easy – www.energymadeeasy.gov.au – to compare deals.

“If you’re struggling to pay your bills, please contact your retailer as soon as possible. Under national energy laws they must assist you,” Ms Savage said.

Consumers should also ensure they are accessing all the available rebates and concessions they’re entitled to by visiting www.energy.gov.au/rebates. 

The draft DMO determination is subject to public consultation and stakeholder feedback, along with updated network and wholesale costs, which will be reflected in the final decision. The AER invites written submissions on the draft DMO via email to DMOaer [dot] gov [dot] au (DMO[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) by close of business 3 April 2025.
 
A final decision will be published on 26 May 2025, with changes to apply from 1 July 2025. 

Table 1. DMO 2025–26 draft determination prices, including changes from DMO 6 (nominal and real terms)*

^{*Note: Real comparisons with DMO 6 are based on RBA 2024–25 inflation forecast of 2.4% in its February 2025 Statement on Monetary Policy.}

^{**CL: Residential customers with Controlled Load: these are separately metered tariffs used for appliances such as electric hot water storage systems, pool pumps or underfloor heating.} 

Table 2. Standing offer customers in DMO regions