Origin Energy court proceedings 2025

The Supreme Court of Victoria has ordered energy retailers Origin Energy Electricity Limited and Origin Energy (Vic) Pty Limited (together, Origin Energy) to pay penalties totalling $17,605 million for contravening life support, payment difficulty, billing and disconnection rules.

The Essential Services Commission also received other orders from the Supreme Court, including contravention orders, adverse publicity orders, and orders to implement a quality assurance system for payment difficulty support and best offer messaging.

The court also made declarations that Origin Energy Retail Limited, which supplies gas to customers in Mildura, had contravened disconnection and payment support rules. This conduct had preceded changes to the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 in December 2021.

In his judgement, His Honour Justice Michael Osborne said "if the court does not impose penalties of sufficient magnitude in light of the conduct that has been found to have occurred, there is a risk that other energy retailers who are currently complying with all relevant obligations may drop their present standards, particularly in circumstances where the cost of compliance is significant."

His Honour also said that "a penalty of sufficient size is warranted to deter Origin, and equally important, others like Origin, from transgressing such prohibitions, particularly where the consequence of transgression is financial harm to the consumer and correlative gain to the retailer."

In particular, the Supreme Court orders require Origin Energy to:

• Pay $17,605 million in pecuniary penalties and the commission’s legal costs
• Publish public notices in The Age and Herald Sun newspapers about the outcome of the proceedings and consumer rights under Victoria’s energy laws
• Set up and maintain, for 3 years, a quality assurance process to verify that best offer messages are being sent on customer bills and communications about payment support are being sent to eligible customers
• Set up and maintain, for 3 years, a compliance, education and training program