National Energy Retail Amendment Rule (Retailer price variations in market retail contracts) Rule 2014

This submission responded to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) draft determination for a proposed change to the National Electricity Retail Rules submitted by the Consumer Utilities Advocacy Centre and the Consumer Action Law Centre. The rule change had proposed that retailers be banned from changing the price of energy under a fixed term contract. In response to this, the AEMC’s draft determination that consumers should be informed when they sign up to a contract that the price may vary and how they will be informed that prices are changing. In the submission, PIAC expressed it’s disappointment with the AEMC’s proposal, arguing that it would not address the original issue identified by the rule change proposal. PIAC repeated its recommendation that retailers should be required to inform customers of price increases 21 days before they take effect.