Important News
The ACT Government has today released its representative price determination, which with the reference consumption determination, forms the reference price determination for 2023.
| Document Name | Type | Size | Published Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utilities (Reference price) Determination 2023 | 264KB | 14 Jun 2023 |
The ACT Government has today released its representative consumption determination which forms part of the reference price determination.
| Document Name | Type | Size | Published Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Representative Consumption Determination 2023 | 480KB | 17 May 2023 |
On 31 March 2022, the Australian Energy Regulator published its Better Bills Guideline. As the AER Guideline is similar to the better offer obligation contained in the ACT Code, the commission decided to vary the ACT Code.
On 21 June 2022 the ACT Code was varied to remove the better offer obligation.
To ensure that consumers in the ACT continue to obtain the benefits of the better offer obligation until the AER Guideline is fully operational, the current transitional better offer arrangements within the ACT Code have been extended to 31 March 2023.
Information for NERL Retailers
The following information is provided to assist NERL retailers on entering or leaving the ACT market. The information provides an overview of registration and reporting obligations. It does not replace a retailer’s need to undertake its own research and obtain legal advice when required.
When a NERL retailer enters the ACT market (starts selling energy to a customer within the ACT), they must comply with the requirements of the ACT in addition to the requirements set by the national laws and rules. This includes an obligation to register as a NERL Retailer within the ACT within 90 days of entering the market. The national requirements for retailers can be found on the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) website.
The Commission
The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission is a statutory body set up to regulate prices, and other matters in relation to regulated industries. We also have responsibility for determining the annual energy industry levy, reporting on NERL retailers’ compliance with the consumer protection code, and providing policy advice to government.
Our objectives are defined in two Acts:
More information can be found about the commission on the ‘About us’ tab of the ICRC website.
ACT legislation
ACT legislation can be found on the ACT Legislation Registry website.
The primary ACT legislation that NERL retailers in the ACT need to comply with are:
- Utilities Act 2000
- National Energy Retail Law (ACT) Act 2012
- Utilities (Technical Regulation) Act 2014
- Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Act 2008
- Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Improvement Act 2012
Industry codes
Industry codes apply to NERL retailers when a determination has been made in accordance with section 56A of the Utilities Act. There are currently 3 industry codes that have been determined to apply to NERL retailers.
ACT Retail Electricity Transparency and Comparability Code — The code contains a reference price obligation to help small customers compare retail electricity offers and commenced on 1 October 2021. The current reference price is in the Utilities (Representative Consumption and Reference Price) Determination 2021.
The Code also contains the better offer obligation which is a prompt to small customers to shop around for better deals and tells them how they can find a better offer that suits their needs and could save them money off their bills.
The commencement of the better offer obligation has been deferred until 1 July 2022 or later date decided by the commission. However, from 1 October 2021 until the better offer obligation commences, NERL retailers must comply with the transitional better offer obligation arrangements set out in the code.
A guideline to the Code is available on our website.
The Consumer Protection Code — The consumer protection code outlines
- the rights of customers, consumers and utilities with respect to access to, and provision of, utility services
- the general conduct of utilities (and their agents) in the delivery of utility services.
Since 1 July 2020, the consumer protection code includes guaranteed service levels and rebates that are required to be paid if a guaranteed service level is not met. Schedule 3 of the consumer protection code sets out the application of the code to NERL retailers.
The Electricity Feed–in Code — The electricity feed–in code sets out practices and standards for the operation of the scheme for feed–in from renewable energy generators to the electricity network established under the Electricity Feed–in (Renewable Energy Premium) Act 2008.
Registration
When entering the ACT market (and starting to sell energy to a customer within the ACT), a NERL retailer must tell the following agencies that it is operating in the ACT.
ACT Revenue — Within 90 days of starting to sell services in the ACT, a NERL retailer must register with ACT Revenue to be part of the energy industry levy scheme. This scheme recovers the national and local regulatory costs of the energy industry sector. Failure to register with ACT Revenue is an offence under section 54L of the Utilities Act. For information on how to register with ACT Revenue, please visit https://www.revenue.act.gov.au/levies/energy-industry-levy.
The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) — The ACAT is the ACT energy ombudsman and is responsible for complaints about energy and water companies, wrongful disconnections and applications for hardship. On entering the ACT market, retailers must register their details with the energy and water section of the ACAT.
The Environmental, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD) — EPSDD is responsible for energy and climate change policies in the ACT. It also monitors and reports against several current energy related schemes. There are two primary schemes that NERL retailers operating in the ACT will need to report against each year:
- Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme
The energy efficiency improvement scheme (EEIS) places a requirement on electricity retailers to achieve energy savings in households and small-to-medium businesses. The scheme is established under the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Improvement Act 2012.
- Small and Medium Scale (rooftop solar) Scheme.
The scheme is closed to new generators, but generator owners may choose any retailer and retain the premium tariff. The scheme is established under the Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Act 2008.
To register with EPSDD, please email epsddenergypolicy@act.gov.au. More information about the ACT’s energy policy initiatives is at https://www.environment.act.gov.au/energy.
National GreenPower Accreditation Program — This is a Commonwealth program with participation from the ACT Government to provide greenpower products and information to customers. Under section 75E of the Utilities Act, retailers must comply with the GreenPower obligation or have been exempted from the GreenPower obligation. On 27 April 2022 the ACT Government passed the Utilities (Greenpower Obligations) Exemption 2022 which exempts retailers from having to offer a greenpower product to a person purchasing electricity. This change has been made because the ACT has achieved its target of 100% renewable energy.
More information about the national GreenPower accreditation program can be found on the GreenPower website.
Reporting
The below outlines NERL retailer reporting obligations to the commission. NERL retailers may also have annual reporting requirements to other ACT Government directorates, such as to EPSDD for the energy efficiency improvement scheme and premium feed-in tariff scheme.
ACT Retail Electricity (Transparency and Comparability) Code — If at any time you or your staff become aware that your organisation has not been compliant with the Code, it is incumbent on your organisation to notify us as soon as possible.
Notification of a non-compliance should be given to us no more than 1 working day after you or your staff become aware of the non-compliance. The notification should include details of the non-compliance and the proposed actions to rectify the matter and prevent its recurrence.
Annual energy industry levy — If you have sold any electricity or gas in the levy year, you must lodge a return with the Levy Administrator (through the commission) by 30 August each year detailing the number of MW hours or/and MJ sold in the year.
Section 54M of the Utilities Act requires a return to be lodged with ACT Revenue before 1 October each year detailing the same information. To make the reporting process easier, providing the required report to the Levy Administrator will also meet the obligation to report to ACT Revenue.
The Levy Administrator has published a guideline on the annual energy industry levy.
NERL retailer annual report — Following the introduction of guaranteed service levels in the consumer protection code from 1 July 2020, NERL retailers must give us information on their compliance with the consumer protection code and rebates made relating to the guaranteed service limits.
We write to the licenced utilities and NERL retailers seeking this information in July of each year. The information template must be completed and returned by 1 October each year.
Leaving the ACT
If a NERL retailer decides to cease operating in the ACT (stop selling energy services to consumers in the ACT), they should notify us, the ACAT, EPSDD, ACT Revenue, and the National Greenpower Accreditation Program.
Remember, if you have been operating in the ACT for part of a year, you are still required to provide the information required for the annual energy industry levy and NERL annual report for that year.
For more information
Correspondence or other inquiries may be directed to:
GPO Box 158
Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: (02) 6205 0799
Fax: (02) 6207 5887
Email: icrc@act.gov.au