A new National Energy Retail Law and National Energy Retail Rules have been developed by the Ministerial Council on Energy (now Standing Council on Energy and Resources or SCER).
On 9 March 2011 the Retail Law was passed in the South Australian Parliament, and received Royal Assent on 17 March 2011. The Law, Rules and Regulations to be made can be accessed from the Ministerial Council on Energy website.
The Ministerial Council on Energy agreed on 10 December 2010 that jurisdictions would work towards a common target date of 1 July 2012 for commencement of the new law, rules and regulations.
The AER will have various roles under the Retail Law and Rules, and in early 2010 it commenced consultation on the guidelines and instruments required. Further detail on these roles and the development of the guidelines and instruments can be found in this section of the website.
The AER's new functions
With the commencement of the new Retail Law and Rules, a number of non-price distribution and retail regulatory functions will transition from state and territory regulators to the AER (except in Western Australia and the Northern Territory in respect of electricity).
The AER’s responsibilities under the new Retail Law and Rules will include:
Granting retailer authorisations and exemptions
Approving retailers’ customer hardship policies
Compliance and performance monitoring and reporting
Administering a retailer of last resort scheme
Responsibility for electricity and gas retail prices is to remain with state and territory jurisdictions.