On 10 December 2012, the AER released the Better regulation issues paper with more information on the guidelines and our plans for the consultation processes for each work stream.

The AER held a videoconference forum on 18 December 2012 to discuss our work program and the consultation process that we are planning.

The AER hosted a number of consumer forums for interested consumer groups. These face to face consumer forums focussed on current service provider consumer engagement activities. We also sought input on the objective/nature of the guideline and issues to be addressed in the guideline.

In developing its presentation, the AER spoke briefly with a number of businesses in January 2013. The purpose was to survey, at a high level, what consumer engagement businesses conduct currently.

The AER’s intention was to gain a broad understanding of the businesses’ activities and approaches to consumer engagement.

On 30 April 2013, the AER met with a group of network service providers to summarise progress to date in developing the guideline, outline the objective/nature of the guideline and seek comments on the nature and scope of the main components of the guideline.

Any interested parties are invited to raise comments or questions by contacting consumerengagementaer [dot] gov [dot] au (consumerengagement[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au). The AER expects to release a draft guideline and explanatory statement for public consultation shortly.

We have received several written comments from service providers and the Energy Networks Association regarding the development of the draft guidelines. We have also received a draft case study from SA Power Networks.