As Australia’s energy system evolves, there’s growing support for a new approach to consumer protection—one that shifts responsibility from consumers to providers. We have commissioned research to explore the concept of outcomes-based regulation in essential services and the opportunities that may lie ahead for our energy future.
Preliminary report
This preliminary report (PDF, 451.20KB) by Jeannie Marie Paterson and Evgenia Bourova (Melbourne Law School) and commissioned by Energy Consumers Australia, explores the concept of outcomes-based regulation in essential services and the opportunities that may lie ahead for our energy future.
Further reports
Following the preliminary report exploring the case for a consumer duty, additional reports from Jeannie Marie Paterson, Lauren Willis and Evgenia Bourova (Melbourne Law School), examine how a consumer duty could be designed and applied in practice to improve outcomes for energy consumers.
Models for a consumer duty in the Australian energy market (PDF, 308.06KB) compares four approaches and finds that a duty to deliver good outcomes for energy consumers, based on the UK’s consumer duty in financial services, would be best suited for Australia’s energy market.
Two companion studies test this idea in practice: one looks at how a duty could address pricing complexity and loyalty penalties, and the other considers its application to consumer energy resources (CER) such as solar, batteries and virtual power plants.
Together, the reports show how a consumer duty could be implemented in Australia‘s energy market to deliver better outcomes for consumers. Download the reports via the links below.
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