AER - Better Bills Guideline - Working Group Minutes - 12 October 2021

In 2021, we established a Better Bills Guideline Working Group to enable ongoing consultation with industry and consumer representatives throughout the Better Bills Guideline development process. The group provided feedback and advice on relevant issues, including:

• our approach to developing the Guideline
• the balance of prescription and flexibility in the Guideline
• specific aspects of billing that might be covered by the Guideline (e.g. language and terminology, content, format)
• the Guideline’s impact on consumers experiencing vulnerability
• the costs and benefits of changing existing regulations through the Guideline
• any foreseeable issues in implementing the Guideline.

The Better Bills Guideline Working Group was chaired by the AER and members were drawn from a range of stakeholder organisations, including consumer groups (6), retailers (5), industry bodies (1) and ombudsman schemes (1). A full list of member organisations and their nominated representatives is included in the Terms of Reference.

The first meeting occurred on 14 July 2021 and the last meeting occurred on 30 March 2022.

The minutes from each meeting are published here.