The AER is holding a second stakeholder forum to discuss the development of the Hardship Program Indicators.
Forum details
The forum will be held on Wednesday 8 September 2010 from 2pm to 5pm (AEST). AER staff will be located in Melbourne and there will be video conference links to other capital cities. A presentation will be circulated to participants the week before the forum to guide discussion on the day. Registering your attendance at the forum is therefore essential.
Background
Under the proposed Retail Law, the AER will be required to monitor and report on energy retailers’ performance in relation to their customer hardship policies. As part of this monitoring role, the AER will be required to develop, consult on and determine a set of Hardship Program Indicators against which the performance of retailers and the implementation of their hardship policies will be assessed.
In April 2010 the AER released an Issues Paper outlining a set of possible indicators for consideration. A stakeholder forum was held in May 2010 to discuss these indicators. The Issues Paper and submissions received are available at the AER's website.
In light of the submissions received to the Issues Paper and discussions at the May forum, the AER is considering some changes to the indicators put forward in the Issues Paper. This September forum will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the indicators proposed as well as a number of alternative indicators. This is part of the AER’s preliminary consultation process and discussions will inform further development of the indicators.
Registering your attendance
Registration for the forum is essential to ensure you receive the materials to be discussed at the forum and as space is limited.
To register, please send an email to AERInquiry
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERInquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) by Monday 30 August 2010, indicating the city in which you will attend. The subject of the email should state "Registration for Hardship Program Indicators Forum - attention Angela Bourke". Stakeholders are asked to nominate no more than one participant each.
For those interested stakeholders who are unable to attend the forum, the materials to be discussed will also be available on the AER website.