Chairperson Gerard Brody's remarks to the Financial Counselling Victoria 2025 conference

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for having me back at your conference for another year.

Attending the Financial Counselling Victoria conference has been an annual pilgrimage for me for the better part of two decades, but this is just my second year attending in the capacity of Chairperson of the Essential Services Commission.

For anyone new to the sector, the commission is an independent regulator that promotes the long-term interests of Victorian consumers with respect to the price, quality and reliability of essential services.  The sectors we regulate include energy, water, local government, transport, and the Victorian Energy Upgrades program.

Today, I‘d like to touch on four topics that I know will be of interest to you:

1. Firstly, the changes to the Energy Retail Code of Practice that have just been announced, which include several changes financial counsellors have advocated for.
2. The second is an overview of the commission’s recent enforcement actions, which has seen companies penalised millions of dollars, including for breaching the Payment Difficulty Framework.
3. I’ll then give an update on initiatives to stop family violence perpetrators weaponising utilities, and to ensure access to utilities is not a barrier to victims escaping violent situations.
4. Finally, I’ll say a word or two about the commission’s new strategic plan.

Changes to energy rules  

As you may have seen, last week I joined the Minister for Energy as she announced changes to Victoria’s electricity and gas rules. I know many of you participated in the consultation process the commission ran about these changes, and I thank you for that.

I want to highlight a few changes, not only because they will have a direct positive effect for your clients, but because they reflect changes that the financial counselling sector has advocated for over many years:

• The minimum debt threshold at which an energy retailer may disconnect a customer will increase from $300 to $1,000. This is an important change that reinforces the principle that disconnection should only ever be a last resort. It also means retailers can no longer use disconnection warnings to pressure customers over small debts. Instead, retailers will be expected to engage proactively with customers and offer appropriate assistance in accordance with the Payment Difficulty Framework.
• Second, retailers must move customers onto their cheapest plan if the customer is receiving payment difficulty support, or has been in debt for more than three months with an amount over $1,000. This is a further major change — it means the benefits of competition will now reach not only those who actively switch, but also customers experiencing debt or hardship. We estimate this reform will save around 75,000 electricity customers and 60,000 gas customers a total of $27.8 million each year.
• Third, retailers will be required to regularly review the accounts of customers who have had a contract for four years or longer, and ensure that they are paying a reasonable price for energy – this reform directly tackles the loyalty penalty in energy. This will benefit some 53,000 electricity customers, with savings of $10.1–$12.2 million annually, and more across gas.
• Fourth, retailers must check if customers are eligible for concessions at key times. For example, when new contracts are signed, or where customers switch plans, request payment difficulty assistance, or are affected by family violence. We know that too many people are still missing out on the concessions they’re entitled to, and this change should help improve that. But we also think broader system reform is needed — so that Services Australia, energy retailers and the concessions department work together to make concessions automatic. That’s something the Australian Energy Market Commission has also called for recently.
• Finally, retailers will no longer be able to limit access to cheap plans to people who pay by direct debit. This change will ensure customers who cannot or do not want to pay by direct debit can still access the best deals. In practice, retailers will have to make a range of payment mechanisms available across all offers.

These are big, meaningful changes, and I want to acknowledge that changes of this size don’t happen overnight, and they rarely happen without grassroots advocacy.

As a sector, I hope you see your advocacy over many years reflected in these changes.

Enforcement action

Since last year’s conference, the commission has continued to use its full suite of enforcement powers.

The penalties we issued and those imposed by the courts will drive compliance with Victoria’s energy rules and promote fairness in the market.  

Notably, the Supreme Court of Victoria handed down the largest financial penalty for breaches of Victoria’s energy rules in the state’s history, when it penalised Origin Energy $17.6 million for breaches affecting over 650,000 customers.  

The same court also penalised Sumo Power and Sumo Gas a total of $10 million for unlawful doorknocking and best offer messaging failures.  

Just as important, I think, is the breadth of breaches we’ve acted on:  

• breaches of family violence provisions, best offer messaging and back billing rules
• failure to provide required support to people experiencing payment difficulty  
• using banned marketing tactics
• overcharging, and
• not properly maintaining the life support register

Across these sorts of breaches, we’ve obtained penalty notices worth more than $5.3 million over the 2024-25 financial year.

We also issued the first-ever fine for breaching the ban on door-to-door marketing under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program. And while on the topic of the VEU program, we’ve also established a dedicated fraud taskforce after uncovering cases of businesses falsifying energy efficiency upgrades. This is a serious concern, because the certificates created through the program are ultimately paid for by consumers through their energy bills. We’ve already banned, suspended and restricted several providers — and we won’t hesitate to take further action where needed.

I remind financial counsellors of the valuable role you can play in alerting us to misconduct across essential services – whether energy retailers or accredited providers in the VEU program.

In relation to water companies, some of you that serve the west of Melbourne may have seen the announcement we made last week in relation to Greater Western Water. Following significant failures with its new billing system, there is a proposal for a $130m redress package through an enforceable undertaking. The billing failures have been significant, including not issuing bills, issuing incomplete or delayed bills, suspending direct debit without notice, and other breaches of the Water Industry Standard.  

Before finalising this matter, we are consulting on a proposal to provide Greater Western Water with a conditional temporary exemption from quarterly billing, while the business returns to normal operations. Conditions include important safeguards to protect customers from bill shock, including credits for delayed bills and a requirement for Greater Western Water to notify customers where bills will be delayed, and let them know the likely amount of the bill so that they can plan.  

We are consulting on this aspect until 22 October, so please look at Engage Victoria should you want to provide feedback.

Family violence initiatives

Since the Royal Commission into Family Violence in Victoria handed us the task of creating regulatory protections for energy and water customers affected by family violence, we’ve worked with others to build some of the strongest safeguards in the country.  

Last year, we announced our Safety by Design partnership with key leaders in family violence and economic abuse. This partnership has since led to a discussion paper designed to help the energy and water sectors identify risks and prevent harm for victim-survivors.

Last month, we launched an updated version of our Better Practice in Responding to Family Violence Handbook, which serves as a practical guide to help energy and water businesses assess and strengthen their response to family violence.  

Pleasingly, the handbook has plenty of examples of utility providers implementing measures to address family violence risks, which is great to see.

But where businesses have dropped the ball on family violence provisions, we continued to impose penalties. Last financial year Origin paid a $1.6 million penalty and Engie $1.7 million.  

We promoted these penalties in the media, so businesses know there is also reputational consequences for non-compliance.

The Royal Commission was completed a decade ago, but family violence remains an urgent issue for Victoria. The commission will continue to show strong, visible and accountable leadership in this area.

Strategic plan

Before I wrap up, a few words on our new strategic plan, which will guide the commission’s work through to 2029.  

We consulted broadly on this plan, and I know there are several organisations represented here today that made the time to share their insights and thoughts. Thank you!

I hope you can see how your feedback has influenced the plan:

• It’s there in our focus on ensuring essential services are equitable and inclusive.  
• It’s there in our focus on keeping prices fair and efficient, and
• It’s there in our focus on ensuring essential services remain just, reliable and cost-effective as utility companies respond to long-term changes, such as the transition to carbon neutrality.

Financial councillors play such a vital role in supporting customers who are struggling to pay their bills.

You have a unique insight into the challenges faced by Victorian households and that is so valuable for regulators like the Essential Services Commission to hear.  

So please keep sharing your insights and advocating for your clients – I’m sure you will.  

Thank you for having me. I look forward to speaking with many of you during the conference.