Review of life support protections in Victoria

Overview

We are reviewing the life support protections in Victoria to uplift ongoing protections for life support customers.

The Essential Services Commission is undertaking a review to strengthen protections for life support customers in Victoria. We are considering changes to existing rules to strengthen life support protections, including:

• strengthening provisions about life support registration and de-registration
• introducing a distinction between life support customers with critical and assistive needs so that energy businesses and emergency services can provide targeted assistance during power outages
• introducing a medical confirmation template so that energy businesses, customers and medical practitioners are clear on the information requirements to register a customer as a life support customer in Victoria.

Information session

On 14 August 2025, we held an online information session where we provided an overview of the proposed reforms to Victoria’s life support rules.

A recording of the information session is available below: 

The information session and the content of the presentation are available for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal or other professional advice. The information session provided a summary of the proposed reform to life support rules that the commission is considering implementing in Victoria. For full insight of the changes, we recommend that you read the consultation paper. 

While the commission has made every reasonable effort to provide accurate information, you should obtain professional advice if you have any specific concerns before relying on the accuracy, currency or completeness of this information.
 

How to participate

You are invited to submit written feedback to our consultation paper via Engage Victoria by 11.59pm on 4 September 2025.

We will continue to proactively engage with the community, industry, community organisations and advocacy groups, government departments and agencies through individual meetings as this review progresses.

You can contact us via email, mail or phone.

• Email: energyreform@esc.vic.gov.au
• Mail: Essential Services Commission, Level 8, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000
• Phone: +61 3 9032 6290

We are also open to meeting with you to discuss specific feedback and encourage you to get in touch to discuss this option.

If English is not your first language, please contact TIS National on 131 450 to make your submission using an interpreter.

Next steps

After the initial round of consultation, we will review stakeholder feedback on the consultation paper to help inform our draft decision. Our draft decision is expected to be released for public consultation in late 2025.

Submissions to the consultation paper will be published on the commission’s website, except for any information that is commercially sensitive or confidential (as specified by stakeholders), in accordance with our Submissions Policy.