The Justice and Equity Centre led a joint consumer and community response to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s Rule Change Consultation Paper on Improving the application of concessions to bills. Our response was co-signed by nine other consumer and community advocacy organisations.
This rule change sought to require retailers to proactively seek information from new consumers on their eligibility for energy concessions and rebates.
Our organisations supported this rule change as an interim measure but noted that it is incapable of meaningfully improving consistency of access to concessions and rebates.
We strongly recommended that the Commonwealth government – in cooperation with state and territory jurisdictions, energy market bodies and other stakeholders – urgently prioritise more comprehensive reform to automate access to concessions and rebates.
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