Overview

Supporting information - Government directive

The Australian Government has indicated to the AER that it will adopt the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) recommendations 30, 49, 32 and 50 in its retail electricity price inquiry (REPI). Specifically, the Government has asked the AER to develop by 30 April 2019:

  • maximum prices for the default market offer to apply from 1 July 2019 for customers not subject to state-based price regulation.
  • a mechanism for determining a reference bill amount for each network distribution region, from which headline discounts can be calculated.

On 12 February 2019, the Government confirmed that the AER was not required to determine default market offer prices for any Victorian network regions. In March, we provided our advice on the protections for consumers under the Victorian Default Offer (VDO), as requested by the Government. Both are published below.

Indicative timetable

Indicative dates for key milestones in the decision making process
Milestone Date*
Release position paper for consultation Early November 2018
Pre-draft consultation
  • Further bilateral meetings with consumer groups, retailers, jurisdictions, market bodies
  • Consideration of written submissions

November 2018 – January 2019
Public forum, Sydney 5 December 2018
Submissions due on position paper 7 December 2018
Publish draft determination 23 February 2019
Submission period 23 February – 20 March 2019
Further consultation over this period as required March 2019 – early April 2019
Publish final determination 30 April 2019

*Please note this timeline is subject to change.

Position

On 9 November 2018 the AER released its position paper on default market offer prices. Our position paper is designed to canvass stakeholder views on a number of matters including:

  • the background and policy objectives from implementing DMO prices
  • the AER's proposed process for consultation and development of DMO prices
  • our preliminary views on the proposed pricing methodology for determining DMO prices for initial implementation on 1 July 2019.

Submissions

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We invited written submissions on our position paper. Submissions closed on 7 December 2018.

ACCC - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 7 December 2018

Document
Authors
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)

ACAT - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 19 December 2018

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Authors
ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal - Energy and Water (ACAT)

ACOSS - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 11 December 2018

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Authors
Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)

EWON - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 6 December 2018

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Authors
Energy and Water Ombudsman of NSW (EWON)

EWOSA - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 7 December 2018

Document
Authors
Energy and Water Ombudsman of South Australia (EWOSA)

EWOV - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 7 December 2018

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Authors
Energy and Water Ombudsman of Victoria (EWOV)

NFF - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 5 December 2018

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Authors
National Farmers' Federation (NFF)

PIAC - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 10 December 2018

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Authors
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

QCOSS - AER Default Market Offer - Submission to Position Paper - 7 December 2018

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Authors
Queensland Council of Social Service Inc (QCOSS)

SVdP_SACOSS - AER Default market offer - Submission to Position Paper - 6 December 2018

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Authors
St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria
South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS)

Stakeholder forum

As part of our consultation process on the position paper, we held a public forum in Sydney NSW on 5 December 2018.