We are reviewing the:
- Benefit Change Notice Guidelines
- Better Bills Guideline
- Customer Hardship Policy Guideline
- Retail Pricing Information Guidelines
These guidelines shape many customer experiences, including choosing and comparing plans, receiving bills, understanding changes to plan benefits and accessing payment difficulty assistance.
We are updating the guidelines to reflect changes in the energy rules and market, simplify energy communications and regulations, and ensure customers are receiving clear, useful and timely information and support.
We are also simplifying the guidelines and combining them into a single, easy-to-use document. This will make it easier for retailers to understand their obligations, which will result in better experiences for energy customers.
Initial consultation
On 12 November 2025, we released a consultation paper seeking initial feedback on opportunities to simplify the guidelines, improve retail communications, manage increasing complexity, make it easier to find a better offer, and improve access to information about prices and payment difficulty assistance. Consultation closed on 23 December 2025.
Draft guidelines
On 5 June 2026, we published the draft AER Retail Guidelines. Consultation on the draft AER Retail Guidelines closed on Friday, 17 July 2026. We received 32 written and 3 verbal submissions.