The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has commenced a review of its Compliance procedures and guidelines (the Guidelines) by releasing for consultation a draft Guideline and an explanatory statement to outline the AER's views on the changes proposed to the Guidelines.
The Guidelines set out the manner and form in which energy businesses in jurisdictions that have adopted the National Energy Retail Law (Retail Law) must submit compliance information and data to the AER. The Guidelines also includes guidance on the carrying out of compliance audits under the Retail Law.
We are seeking input on specific changes being considered, including:
- introducing a material breach reporting requirement which would require the reporting of any material breach of an obligation under the Retail Law or National Energy Retail Rules as soon as reasonably practicable
- introducing new reporting requirements relating to family violence, presentation of standing offer prices, energisation, retailer and distributor re-energisation obligations
- proposing to reduce the frequency of some reporting requirements and the removal of some reporting requirement to ensure that compliance reporting is focussed on the highest risk obligations.
We aim to complete our review of the Guidelines by July 2024, with an implementation date of 1 January 2025.
We are now seeking stakeholder views on the draft Guidelines and will engage closely with stakeholders to discuss the changes.
Consultation
Stakeholders are invited to join a virtual public information session hosted by the AER on 26 March 2024 from 9:30AM AEDT. Please register your interest to join by emailing your name, title, organisation and email address to aercompliance
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (body: name%3A%20%0Atitle%3A%20%0Aorganisation%3A%20%0Aemail%20address%3A) (aercompliance[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) by close of business 22 March 2024.
Submissions on the draft Guidelines are invited from interested stakeholders by 19 April 2024.