2020 Consultation on ACCC Guide to the Electricity Retail Code

Overview

The Competition and Consumer (Industry Code—Electricity Retail) Regulations 2019 (the Code) came into force on 1 July 2019. The Code, as a mandatory industry code under Part IVB of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, is binding on all retailers that supply electricity to small customers in the applicable distribution regions of New South Wales, South Australia and south-east Queensland. It sets a price cap on standing offers and specifies how prices and discounts must be advertised, published or offered.

The ACCC is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance under the Code. The guide is intended to help electricity retailers understand their obligations under the Code. The ACCC has revised its guide to provide further clarity on the Code and to reflect additional requirements of the Code following amendments made in February 2020. The amendments extend the application of the price cap to solar standing offers for residential and small business customers, and to Time of Use standing offers for residential customers, commencing from 1 July 2020. There are also additional requirements for retailers related to record keeping and communicating with small customers.

Consultation

The ACCC has released a revised guide for consultation and is seeking submissions from interested parties. We welcome feedback on the guide as well as any other issues related to the Code. The revised guide is provided on this page.

How to make a submission

Interested parties can upload a submission via this online consultation.

Alternatively, submissions can be emailed to ElectricityMonitoring@accc.gov.au by 22 May 2020.