We welcome the opportunity to comment on the impact of the Default Market Offer (DMO) and Reference Price since its introduction.

We supported the move as an important opportunity to improve consumer outcomes in 2019, following a period when electricity prices had effectively doubled over a period of 10 years. Since then we have seen decreases in both standing offer and market offer prices. Importantly, it also continues to play an important safety net role for the consumers who have not or cannot engage with the market, which is essential now more than ever during the current pandemic.

Our most recent Energy Consumers Sentiment Survey (ECSS), released in June, revealed consumers are generally satisfied with the price of electricity. This continues an upward trend in satisfaction we have witnessed since December 2017. In all, since the introduction of the DMO, we have seen customer’s perception of value for money rise 17%.

The role of the DMO as a reference price continues to be an important tool for consumers to navigate a complicated energy market, however there is room to do further work to increase understanding of the reference price.

Read our full submission here.