The default market offer (DMO) came into effect on 1 July 2019. The DMO is a rule that limits the price that retailers can charge electricity customers on default contracts, known as standing offer contracts. The AER’s role is to determine the maximum price that a retailer can charge a standing offer customer each year.
The DMO applies to small business and residential customers in areas where there is no other retail price regulation: South Australia, New South Wales and south-east Queensland. The DMO price for each area also acts as a ‘reference price’ for residential and small business offers in that area. When advertising or promoting offer pricing, retailers must show the price of their offer in comparison to the DMO/reference price. This helps customers more simply compare the price of different offers.
The Competition and Consumer (Industry Code—Electricity Retail) Regulations 2019 (Regulations) sets out the legislative framework for the DMO.
Position paper
On 20 October 2020 we published our position paper on DMO prices for the 2021–22 year. We have instructed ACIL Allen Consulting to support us in updating the design of our forecasting approach for wholesale and environmental costs. The report Default Market Offer 2021–22: Wholesale energy and environmental costs methodology paper for DMO 3 by ACIL Allen Consulting is published alongside the position paper. We invited written submissions on the position paper, which closed Thursday 19 November 2020. As part of its consultation process the AER held an online stakeholder forum on 29 October 2020 to discuss key issues for the DMO 2021–22 price determination.
Draft Determination
On 17 February 2021 we published our draft determination on Default Market Offer prices for the 2021–22 year. ACIL Allen Consulting has supported us in the design of a forecasting approach for wholesale and environmental costs. The report Default Market Offer: Wholesale energy and environmental costs estimates for DMO 3 draft determination by ACIL Allen Consulting is published alongside the draft determination. Submissions closed on Thursday 18 March 2021. As part of its consultation process the AER held an online stakeholder forum on 10 March 2021 to discuss key issues for the DMO 2021–22 price determination. We invited stakeholders to submit questions which we addressed in the forum. We have provided a summary of stakeholder questions and our answers from the forum, along with the presentation slides.
Final determination
On 27 April 2021 we published our final determination on default market offer prices for the 2021–22 year. We have also published our model and the ACIL Allen consultant report alongside our decision.