Annual Report on Compliance and Performance of the Retail Energy Market 2017–18

On 13 December 2018, we released our Annual Report on Compliance and Performance of the Retail Energy Market. This year we present a combined report addressing performance, affordability, and compliance outcomes. It is a requirement of the National Energy Retail Law that this information is published annually.

The report covers the territory and states where the Retail Law applies: the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania (electricity only). Our analysis of energy affordability also includes Victoria, as part of the National Electricity Market.

The Australian energy market is in transition and the AER is working to place the needs of customers at the heart of this significant technological, policy and behavioural change.

Our report features:

1. An overview of the retail market:
   • Electricity and gas prices for residential customers in major cities
   • Retailers’ customer numbers in residential, small and large business customer markets
   • The percentage of customers on standard and market retail contracts in each jurisdiction, by fuel type
   • Customer switching rates
   • New market developments
2. Energy retailer performance:
   • customer service
   • complaints
3. Payment difficulties and hardship:
   • Debt levels
   • Payment plans
   • Hardship
   • Disconnections
   • Concessions
4. Retailer report cards
5. Energy affordability analysis:
   • National energy costs comparison
   • Jurisdictional energy costs and affordability comparison
   • Composition of bills: supply charges
   • Jurisdictional dashboards
6. Our compliance activities across monitoring, enforcement and community engagement.

Infographics

The report includes the following quick reference infographics highlighting key information:

• Key facts
• Jurisdictional summaries
• Energy bill costs for low income households 2017-18
• Retailer report cards

Accessibility

We are aware that some information may not be accessible to some people. Please contact us at AERInquiryaer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERInquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) or 1300 585 165 if you need information that is not accessible to you.