Energy Consumers Australia welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER) draft determination on the Default Market Offer (DMO) prices for 2023-24. The significant volatility occurring in the energy market has highlighted the need for robust consumer protections such as the DMO that safeguard consumers from unjustifiably high price increases.

In our submission we:

• Highlight that consumers already concerned with energy affordability will struggle to absorb increases of around 20% to the DMO
• Emphasise that the DMO’s function as a consumer protections tool must be prioritised
• Acknowledge the impact of rising on wholesale costs on the DMO and broadly support the AER’s methodology for calculating wholesale costs
• Reiterate that the retail margin is unjustifiably high.

Read our full submission here.