About Us

The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is a statutory body set up to regulate prices, access to infrastructure services and other matters in relation to regulated industries and to investigate competitive neutrality complaints and government-regulated activities. We also have responsibility for licensing utility services and ensuring compliance with licence conditions.

Our objectives are defined in two principal Acts:

• Independent Competition & Regulatory Commission Act 1997
• Utilities Act 2000

Our plan and future priorities

The Commission’s Statement of Intent sets out our workplan and priorities for the year and beyond. The Statement of Intent focuses on the current budget year, and has been developed in the context of a four year forward planning horizon. Our Strategic Plan outlines what we plan to do, how we will do our work, and our measures of success for the four years from 2020 to 2024. See the following documents:

A brief history of the Commission

Twenty-five years of economic regulation in the ACT [PDF 1.5MB]

Since its establishment in 1996, the Commission and its predecessors have worked to promote the well-being of the ACT community through its regulatory and consumer protection activities and advice to the ACT Government on a wide range of matters.

The Commission’s responsibilities and activities have changed over time, reflecting the Government’s priorities, consumer expectations and industry conditions.

The Commission has set regulated prices for: electricity (since 1997), water and sewerage services (since 1997), bus fares (1999-2007), and taxi fares (2000-2007). In determining regulated prices, the Commission balances economic efficiency and social and environmental considerations, with its overarching objective being to set regulated prices that are in the long-term interests of ACT consumers. In short, this means that prices are set to reflect the efficient and prudent costs of supplying the services.

Since 2000, the Commission has been responsible for licensing energy service providers operating in the ACT and the ACT’s water and sewerage service provider and for making utility industry codes that establish consumer protections and implement regulations that promote the quality, safety, reliability and security of essential services.

Over its history, the Commission has provided advice to the Government on a wide range of industry matters, including: milk pricing; petrol prices and competition in the ACT petrol market; gas pricing; the water abstraction charge; wheelchair accessible taxi licence allocations; the ACT racing industry; ambulance service charges; competition in the ACT supermarket industry; secondary water use; the costs of the Cotter Dam enlargement; and price and competition impacts of the Container Deposit Scheme.

In addition, the Commission has provided advice and information to the ACT Government in relation to climate change policies and programs, reported on performance in achieving greenhouse gas reductions, and has had various roles in relation to the electricity feed-in arrangements.

The Commission has also assessed competitive neutrality concerns and access arrangements. In doing this work, the Commission’s aims are to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers and ensure non-discriminatory access to monopoly and near-monopoly infrastructure.

Documents relating to the Commission current and completed projects are available on our website.

How to contact us

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

Contact us form

For information on current issues please go to the Home page.