The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has made a final rule removing the Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER) obligation to develop and update electricity consumption benchmarks that are no longer required on bills.

The AER was previously required to publish information about average electricity consumption every three years to help retailers fulfill their obligation to provide benchmarks on customer energy bills.

Last year, the AER decided to remove the obligation for retailers to include benchmarks on customer bills as part of its Better Bills Guideline, which comes fully into effect on 30 September 2023.

During the 2022 review, the AER determined that including benchmarks on bills no longer brought value to customers in the evolving energy market.

In a rule change submitted earlier this year, the AER proposed removing their obligation to update the benchmark data, putting forward that the benchmarks will no longer benefit consumers when they are not on bills.

Following careful consideration and consultation with stakeholders, the AEMC has found that the AER’s benchmarks now provide very little value for consumers and policy makers.

The AEMC considers that quality data is important, consumers should have access to good information to support their choices and that such information is equally valuable to policy planners and decision makers during the transition.

The AEMC considers that removing the prescriptive obligation placed on the AER to deliver consumption benchmarks will give the AER greater flexibility to focus on providing more relevant data.

The final rule comes into effect from today.

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Media: Nicole Stokes: 0401 826 522 or media@aemc.gov.au