We updated the Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline for energy businesses.
Updating the Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline 2021
- Draft decision and updated guideline13 September 2021
- Consultation closes25 October 2021
- Final decision22 February 2022
Overview
In September 2021, we began a process of updating the Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline for energy businesses. The updates strengthen protection for consumers and we sought feedback on our draft decisions and updates. Our consultation period closed in October 2021 and we published our final decision in February 2022.
The guideline describes the information energy retailers and distributors need to report to us on how they are performing and whether they are complying with their obligations. When an energy business does not comply with an obligation in the guideline, they must report this breach to us and start corrective actions.
This update follows our 2020 review of the guideline.
Our final decision and updated Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline
We have published a final decision paper and an updated Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline.
Guidance during the transitional period from version 6 to version 7 of the guideline
The below table summarises how reporting entities must comply with their reporting obligations from 1 March 2022 to 30 June 2022, under the commission’s transitional period between version 6 and version 7 of the guideline:
| Scenario | Which timeframes apply? | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|
| A breach is reportable only under version 7 (and was not reportable under version 6). | Timeframes under version 7 apply. | Retailers may choose not to report these types of breaches until 1 July 2022. |
| A breach is reportable only under version 6 (not reportable under version 7). | No longer required to be reported. | |
|
A breach is reportable under both versions 6 and 7: |
A licensee may choose the timeframe that is most generous to the licensee. |
|
|
A licensee may choose to report as a type 2 under version 6 until 30 June 2022. | |
|
A licensee may choose to report as a type 2 under version 7. | |
| Breach reporting using pre-1 March 2022 clause references and numbering. | This is acceptable until 1 July 2022. |
Key facts
Over the past two years we have undertaken several energy reforms to strengthen protections for consumers
We have updated the Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline to reflect these reforms.
We have undertaken a wider review of the compliance reporting framework
We have reviewed the:
- classification of obligations on energy businesses to better reflect the harm or potential harm that could be caused to a consumer if a business did not comply with those obligations
- reporting timeframes for each classification of obligations on energy businesses to make it clear what can be expected if there has been a breach.
Our draft decision and updated Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline
We have published a draft decision paper and an updated Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline.
Feedback on the consultation
We received 14 submissions on the consultation paper through Engage Victoria. These submissions came from energy retailers, distributors and consumer representative groups.
In general, stakeholders’ main areas of feedback were around categorisation of type 2 reporting requirements, performance reporting obligations, ‘material adverse breaches’, our proposed transitional period, and wrongful disconnection reports. We will consider stakeholder feedback when forming our final decision.