Feature Article

Consumer protection in an evolving market

The pace of change in the energy sector puts all energy consumers – which means almost all Australians – at the edge of a brave new world. New products and services designed to make our lives more productive, connected, sustainable or just easier, are being introduced at an extraordinary pace.

The pace of change in the energy sector puts all energy consumers – which means almost all Australians – at the edge of a brave new world. New products and services designed to make our lives more productive, connected, sustainable or just easier, are being introduced at an extraordinary pace.

While this is mostly good news as long as consumers can pick and choose what best meets their needs, it’s important to remember electricity is an essential service. That means that consumer protections need to also evolve to keep pace with the restructuring power system.

Last year, as part of the 2019 retail energy competition review, the AEMC mapped how the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and the National Energy Customer Framework (NECF) worked together to create a complementary consumer protection framework for energy consumers. In that report we noted that the NECF was created to protect consumers in a market that was different to that which is emerging today.

Building on that work, this year the AEMC has analysed different forms of regulation for their applicability to the evolving energy market. We have found that increasingly diverse consumer preferences is likely to require more diversity in the regulatory approaches that are used, to strike the right balance between facilitating innovation and consumer protection.

This applies to current consumer protection provisions under both the NECF and the ACL, at all 5 stages of a consumers’ interaction with their energy providers – the protections required before and after signing a contract, the service standards and quality consumers are entitled to, how complaints and disputes are resolved, and additional protections in times of need such as financial difficulty and for the use of life support equipment.

View the recommendations we are making for reform

The Commission will continue to look for opportunities to move to these different regulatory approaches to suit the current and emerging market conditions.

Laws to protect energy consumers – a map

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