Victorian Energy Market Report

We regularly report on the performance of the Victorian energy market

Our Victorian Energy Market Report helps customers piece together key facts about the energy industry. 

We provide updates on the energy market throughout the year.

These reports provide information on:

• compliance of energy licensees with the energy rules
• prices of electricity and gas retail offers throughout the year
• performance of energy companies in areas such as customer service and assistance for customers in payment difficulty.

We also publish the results of our audits of energy businesses, and the standard contract prices published by retailers.

Our 2019-20 energy market report

Our latest annual energy market report provides a summary of the state's energy market in 2019-20.

Key findings of the report include:

Energy customers supported during the pandemic:

• No customers were disconnected between April and June 2020.
• Around 12,000 energy customers per week reached out to their retailers enquiring about payment plans or assistance.
• Between April to June 2020, the number of residential electricity and gas customers receiving tailored assistance decreased by 14 per cent. The average arrears decreased by seven per cent.
• At the end of June 2020, 15,649 residential (0.3 per cent of all residential) and 3,210 small business (0.9 per cent of all small business) customers chose to defer their bill payments.

Supporting customers:

• Fewer customers received payment assistance for electricity (down seven per cent) and gas (down three per cent).
• 47% of electricity and 49% of gas residential customers exiting tailored assistance successfully resolved their payment difficulties.
• The average arrears of customers receiving assistance increased this year for electricity (up five per cent) and gas (up seven per cent), driven by customers who cannot afford their ongoing energy use.
• Residential disconnections decreased (up 27 per cent) from 36,729 to 26,822.
• Call wait times increased from an average 58 seconds to 92 seconds (up 58 per cent).

Energy offers prices and the market:

• Market offers without discounts are now the most common type of market offer for residential electricity and gas.
• The median estimated annual bill of market offers for residential electricity and gas in Melbourne was generally stable.
• The median cost of not meeting your discount conditions decreased from $419 to $101 for residential electricity and from $224 to $178 for residential gas.
• 12 energy licences were granted, six new generation licences (two solar farms, two wind farms, one battery and one biogas/natural gas) creating over 746 MW of new capacity for the Victorian grid.

Our compliance and enforcement activities:

• Four energy companies issued penalties, including $1,180,000 relating to retailers signing up customers without their explicit informed consent and $900,000 for failing to inform vulnerable customers of overcharges.
• Resolved eight disconnection disputes, with six customers being compensated a total of $101,440.

This report also covers average price changes in the energy offers available for residential and small business customers and provides an overview of our auditing activities.