Improving outcomes for customers
The Australian Energy Market commission (AEMC) has made changes to the National Energy Retail Rules that affect your energy plan. The changes are designed to improve the terms and conditions of energy contracts for the benefit of residential and small business customers. They include new customer protections.
You don’t need to do anything. The changes will automatically take effect from 1 July 2026.
Here is a summary of the new customer protections that will apply to your energy contract.
Pricing certainty
Limit on price increases and feed-in tariff decreases
We won’t increase your electricity or gas prices or decrease your energy payments, such as feed-in tariffs, more than once in a 12-month period. This doesn't apply if you change your plan.
Fixed-price plans
If your electricity or gas plan includes a fixed-price period, we won’t increase your prices or reduce any credits during that fixed period.
Protection if a discount or benefit ends
At all times, what you pay for your electricity or gas won't be more than the applicable standing offer price for your premises. This applies even if:
- a discount ends, or
- another benefit under your plan changes or expires.
Restrictions on fees
No retail fees for vulnerable customers
We won’t charge fees to customers experiencing hardship, payment difficulty or family violence, except for fees passed through by the distribution network.
Fees must reflect reasonable costs
All retail fees will continue to be limited to reflect the reasonable costs incurred by us. We also won’t charge metering fees that are not fees passed through by the network operator.
Fee-free payment option
We’ll continue to offer you at least one commonly used payment method with no fees, so you can pay your bill without extra charges.
What's not changing
Most of the terms and conditions of your energy contract are staying the same. Your current prices, discounts and billing arrangements won’t change, unless they’re affected by the protections outlined above.
We're here to help
You can view your energy contract online.
If you have any questions about the changes to your energy contract, please contact us.
