The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) commenced preliminary consultation on the Hardship Program Indicators in April 2010.
Under the Retail Law, the AER will be required to monitor and report on retailer performance in relation to their customer hardship policies. As part of this monitoring role, the AER will be required to develop a set of Hardship Program Indicators against which the performance of retailers and the implementation of their hardship policies will be assessed.
Position paper – November 2010
In November 2010 the AER published a Position Paper as part of a second round of preliminary consultation on the hardship program indicators.
The hardship program indicators have now been consolidated into the Retail Performance Report.
For further information, refer to the Retail Market Performance Reporting page on the AER website.
Stakeholder forums – October 2010
In October 2010 the AER held a forum with energy retailers and the Energy Retailers Association Australia. At the forum, retailers proposed a set of hardship program indicators. The retailers’ proposed indicators are available below:
The AER also held a separate forum for representatives from consumer organisations and energy ombudsman schemes to discuss the development of the hardship program indicators, including the retailers’ proposed set of indicators.
Stakeholder forum - 8 September 2010
The AER held a second stakeholder forum to discuss the further development of the Hardship Program Indicators.
The materials discussed at the forum are available below.
The Hardship Program Indicators Issues Paper looks at existing jurisdictional hardship requirements and indicators and explores ideas for the development of Hardship Program Indicators. The Issues Paper poses a series of questions for stakeholders on the possible indicators. Stakeholder views were sought on the appropriateness of the potential indicators discussed and a number of issues raised throughout the paper. The Issues Paper for the National Hardship Indicators is available below.
