Explore Justice:

Objectives

From heating to hot water, lighting to laptops, our access to energy is essential for a reasonable standard of living. So how is it possible in today’s Australia that people who can’t afford it can so easily have an essential service disconnected? Other countries increasingly protect vulnerable people – such as infants – from losing supply. We want to see a new normal where disconnection is a last resort.

More of us are entering energy affordability programs – and with higher debt. We have to ask, if energy is an essential service, how can it be unaffordable? There are two big issues here: there is no common understanding of what effective, sustainable support measures look like, and no consistent application of the supports that do exist. We need to identify and put in place long term supports that work to break the cycle of energy poverty.

The energy system isn’t consistently providing affordable and reliable energy to consumers, and some rules have too little regard for consumer interests. This means consumers aren’t sufficiently protected against inequitable and sometimes unfair outcomes. Energy ombudsmen don’t have the mandate to support consumers across all their energy decisions. Along with other advocates, ECA has called for regulatory reforms to ensure consumers are treated fairly – but we want to approach things from a new angle: we think there should be an overarching obligation to ensure better consumer protections and outcomes for consumers.

Since the pandemic, the proportion of households and small businesses having difficulties affording their energy bills has increased. We’re seeing a widening energy divide in Australia between consumers who can easily access efficient, reliable, and affordable energy, and those who can’t. People living in First Nations communities and small businesses in embedded networks are among those most at risk. If we are to avoid the energy transition creating an entrenched energy underclass in Australia, we need proper planning and policy interventions.

With extreme weather events increasing due to climate change, we need to help build energy resilience, especially in regional and rural communities. To do this, people living in potentially affected areas will need toolkits, resources, and assistance to help them, and they will need to work together and be prepared to take action if their power goes out due to a bushfire, flood or cyclone.  Forewarned is forearmed so every community should have a resilience plan in place as soon as possible.

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Showing 1 - 9 of 47 results
Photo of a person sitting in front of a couch in a yellow jumper, holding a piece of popcorn and a TV remote, looking at the TV.
Submission
26 June 2025
2 min read
Submission to the Essential Services Commission (Victoria) on the Energy Retail Code of Practice Review
Our submission supports the proposed package of reforms to the Energy Retail Code of Practice as many of the reforms will improve outcomes for Victorian energy consumers.
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Submission
18 June 2025
2 min read
Submission to the Australian Energy Regulator's draft decision on its Review of the minimum disconnection amount
Energy Consumers Australia has made a submission in response to the Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER) draft decision to increase the minimum disconnection amount from $300 to $500 under the National Energy Customer Framework (NECF).
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Submission
18 June 2025
2 min read
Submission to the Utilities Commission of the Northern Territory's draft decision on the electricity industry performance code review
Energy Consumers Australia (ECA)'s response to the NT Utilities Commission’s draft decision paper on changes to the Electricity industry Performance Code (Standards of Service and Guaranteed Service Levels) Review.
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Submission
06 June 2025
2 min read
Submission to the Better Energy Customer Experiences Consultation
Our submission to the Better Energy Customer Experiences (BECE) Consultation focuses on the value and urgency of introducing a consumer duty for energy.
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Grant
30 May 2025
3 min read
Building energy resilience in the Flinders Ranges region
Learn how an ECA grant to the First Nations Clean Energy Network helped lay the foundations to build energy resilience in the Flinders Ranges.
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News
27 May 2025
8 min read
Doing the right thing by consumers – an aspirational utopia or an enforceable duty?
Should we just hope energy companies do the right thing, or should they be required to?
Image of a person shrouded in partial darkness. You can see part of their face, looking up into the light.
Submission
08 May 2025
2 min read
Submission to the AEMC on the Draft rule to assist hardship customers
We support the intent of the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC)'s rule change and draft determination for assisting hardship customers.
Photo of a person's hands on a desk, writing in a book. There is a cup of coffee, a sugar pot in the foreground, and an iPhone and a laptop in the middle ground.
Submission
08 May 2025
2 min read
Submission to the AEMC on the Draft rule to improve consumer protections for customers on retail energy plans
We support the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) draft determination for improving consumer confidence in retail energy plans.
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Submission
11 April 2025
2 min read
Joint submission to the Essential Services Commission on the Victorian Default Offer Review 2025-26 Draft Decision
Read our joint submission with other consumer advocates on the Victorian Default Offer Review 2025-26 Draft Decision.
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