Final report

On 15 May 2025, we published the findings from our Review of payment difficulty protections in the National Energy Customer Framework. The findings report presents the case for change to strengthen payment difficulty protections in the NECF and identifies 13 specific opportunities for improvement.

We also published a consultation report that summarises the feedback we received following the publication of our issues paper, including feedback provided in formal submissions, in consultation workshops, through engagement with our Customer Consultative Group, and verbally in meetings. The consultation report includes a summary of all opportunities for improvement considered in our review, including those that were not prioritised in our findings report.

Letter to Energy Ministers

On 13 May 2025, we wrote to Energy Ministers to share the findings and recommendations from our review, noting that:

• most of the opportunities we’ve identified will require changes to the National Energy Retail Law, National Energy Retail Regulations or National Energy Retail Rules to implement
• there would be benefits to considering these changes alongside other consumer reforms, as part of the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council’s existing work program to modernise our energy consumer protection regimes and deliver better energy customer experiences.
• the Better Energy Customer Experiences initiative provides a timely path to progress the opportunities identified through our review to update and strengthen our regime’s payment difficulty protections.