Consultation on ACCC Guide to the Electricity Retail Code

Overview

The Competition and Consumer (Industry Code—Electricity Retail) Regulations 2019 (the Code) will come 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, and has published a guide to the Code for electricity retailers. The guide is designed to help electricity retailers understand their responsibilities under the Code. It offers guidance on:

• which offers are covered by the Code
• how the price cap on standing offers works
• how offers must be compared to the reference price
• how conditional discounts must be expressed
• the consequences of non-compliance with the Code.

Consultation

The ACCC released a draft guide for consultation. The draft guide, a list of consultation questions and submissions from stakeholders are provided on this page.