Australia: ACCC to enforce new rules for electricity retailers

The ACCC will be enforcing new rules that will benefit most electricity consumers by both limiting standing offer electricity prices and imposing new advertising rules on electricity providers under the new Electricity Retail Code. This code comes into force today in South East Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.

From today, electricity retailers have various obligations under the code including:

  • Capping their standing offers in line with the AER’s independently set default price and moving clients on current standing offers onto the lower price
  • Advertising the prices and conditions on their market offers by reference to the default price so retail offers can be clearly compared.

From 1 July 2019, prices will decrease for many customers who have been paying excessively high standing offer prices. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has set maximum allowable prices for these standing offers and the ACCC will ensure that retailers are not charging more than they are allowed.

Full Content: ACCC

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