Making an Energy Retail Code of Practice

Overview

As part of its Energy Fairness Plan commitments, the Victorian Government has reformed the enforcement framework that we operate under. To align with this new framework our existing energy codes will transition to ‘codes of practice’.

The new enforcement framework is being implemented via the Essential Services Commission (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Amendment Act 2021 (Compliance and Enforcement Act). 

The Compliance and Enforcement Act commenced on 1 December 2021, and resulted in our existing energy codes being deemed as ‘codes of practice’. However, for the provisions of those instruments to be fully enforced through the new enforcement framework, we are undertaking a further step of reviewing each code.

We consulted on the proposed Energy Retail Code of Practice in September 2021. In December 2021 we published a final decision, along with an exposure draft Energy Retail Code of Practice. After receiving feedback on the exposure draft, we published the final Energy Retail Code of Practice in January 2022. The Energy Retail Code of Practice will take effect on 1 March 2022. 

Additional round of review

In response to stakeholder feedback, we provided a further opportunity to review the new Energy Retail Code of Practice before it commences. This was an opportunity for stakeholders to raise any drafting errors or concerns that they identified in this period. We foreshadowed publishing a final version of the Energy Retail Code of Practice by the end of January, ahead of commencement on 1 March 2022.

We have considered this feedback and in response have made further amendments to the Energy Retail Code of Practice. The feedback we received along with a marked up version of the final Energy Retail Code of Practice highlighting the changes made on the exposure draft can be found under the resources tab.

Feedback on the consultation 

We received ten written submissions to our consultation paper and draft Energy Retail Code of Practice through the Engage Victoria website. These submissions came from energy retailers, the Australian Energy Council, and one confidential submission from a member of the public. In general, the main areas of feedback were around:

• timing of the code of practice commencement 
• the meaning of new definitions in the life support framework
• changes to greenhouse gas disclosure provisions.

We have considered stakeholder feedback in forming our final decision. We have reviewed areas where our proposed drafting might have unintentionally represented a change in policy intent and made some minor changes to the final Energy Retail Code of Practice, to ensure that existing obligations are not substantively altered. We have also made some changes to correct minor typographical errors. 

Besides these changes, the final Energy Retail Code of Practice is largely the same as the draft code we consulted on.