On 24 October 2024, the Essential Services Commission of Victoria (ESCV) released a discussion paper for Stage 1 of its Energy Retail Code of Practice (ERCOP) energy consumer reforms. Stage 1 of the review considers energy consumer reforms proposed by the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council at its meeting on 19 July 2024.
The consultation paper seeks stakeholder feedback on several proposals including automatic best offer for customers experiencing payment difficulty, improving the ability to switch to the best offer, improving the application of concessions to bills, extending protections for customers on legacy contracts and improving awareness of independent dispute resolution services. The automatic best offer proposal builds on the AER’s Game changer report presented to the ECMC in December 2023 and is part of a broader package of seven consumer-related rule change requests.
The AER made a submission to the discussion paper on 5 December 2024.