Overview

We use information provided by energy businesses to monitor and produce reports on their performance and compliance with regulatory obligations. This guideline sets out what retailers need to report to us.

To help ensure we receive the correct information, we ask regulated businesses to use reporting templates we have created.

As of 1 May 2023, electricity reporting obligations as well as performance and compliance reporting templates for distributors can now be found on the Electricity Distribution Code of Practice page.

This policy outlines our approach to compliance and enforcement in the energy, water, transport and local government sectors, and the Victorian Energy Upgrades program.

It explains our:

• role and objectives
• compliance and enforcement roles, powers and pathways
• reporting on compliance and enforcement.

The original policy took effect on 22 July 2016. It applies to our full suite of enforcement powers as updated by the following resources:

Commissioner Sitesh Bhojani talks about our new policy

We updated the energy rules to better protect residential customers that are anticipating or facing payment difficulty. 

Support for residential customers having trouble paying their energy bills

The framework has three key objectives

1. To help residential customers avoid getting into debt with their retailer.
2. To make it easier for residential customers to pay for their ongoing energy use, repay their debt when they have missed a bill and lower their energy costs.
3. To ensure residential customers are only disconnected for non-payment of a bill as a measure of last resort.

How we've supported the framework's objectives

The changes we made to the Energy Retail Code in relation to the payment difficulty framework took effect on 1 January 2019.

The payment difficulty framework is the culmination of three years work which began with an inquiry into why thousands of Victorians were being disconnected. In late 2017, we finalised the energy rules that support customers with payment difficulties and ensure that disconnection is only ever a measure of last resort.

The energy rules and the process undertaken to develop them can be found in our final decision.

This is accompanied by a guidance note that helps stakeholders understand our approach to compliance and enforcement of the new rules.

We also worked with retailers to update their hardship policies during 2018. All retailers must have  a hardship policy that contains specific information about how they support residential customers in payment difficulty. These documents are approved by us, must be published on the retailer's website and sent to you when requested at no charge.

Your energy company pays you feed-in tariffs for power you export to the grid (from sources including solar panels). Energy retail companies are responsible for setting their feed-in tariffs.

We set the minimum feed-in tariffs that retailers must pay. This means retailers have to offer you at least these minimum feed-in tariffs. However, retailers can offer you feed-in tariffs above the minimum amounts.

Retailers can also offer solar customers a choice between a single rate or time-varying tariffs.

Feed-in-tariff review 2024–25

We have completed our review of the minimum feed-in tariffs for 2024–25. These feed-in tariffs apply from 1 July 2024.

Find out more about our review on our 2024-25 minimum feed-in tariffs page.

Minimum feed-in tariffs for 2024­­­­–25 

The table below shows the minimum feed-in tariffs for 2024­­­­–25. Retailers can offer solar customers a flat feed-in tariff and/or time-varying feed-in tariffs for electricity exported to the grid.

Why has the minimum tariff decreased?

Growth in the installations of rooftop, and utility-scale, solar has reduced the demand for and increased the supply of electricity during the day. As a result, wholesale prices (solar weighted wholesale prices) at the times when solar exports happen are lower, leading to a lower feed in tariff.

Wholesale electricity prices in the evening, when electricity demand is the highest, are still quite high and not falling as quickly as daytime prices. For this reason, solar weighted wholesale prices are decreasing more rapidly than average wholesale prices. 

The wholesale electricity prices are higher in the evening because electricity demand is higher during that time. Demand is higher partly because solar exports decline as there is less sunlight. 

The chart below shows how wholesale electricity prices are low during the day, when solar exports happen, but higher at night.

Figure: Average solar weighted wholesale prices and solar exports over the day

Why the minimum feed-in tariffs are lower than retail electricity tariffs

The minimum feed-in tariff is a payment you receive for generating electricity.

When retailers supply electricity to their customers, they must cover costs including:

• transporting electricity (the poles and wires connecting customers to electricity generators)
• operating a retail business (for example, billing and revenue collection systems, information technology systems, call centre costs, human resources, finance, legal services, regulatory compliance costs, licence costs and marketing)
• the ‘spot price’ of energy in the national energy market paid to generators
• hedging costs to provide a guaranteed price to their customers
• complying with environmental programs.

These additional costs mean the minimum feed-in tariff will always be lower than the retail electricity tariff.

Also, the retail price of electricity covers the cost of supplying energy at all times of the day. Because retailers must supply energy 24 hours a day, they must also pay for high-cost electricity during the night (when wholesale electricity prices are higher). On the other hand, solar exports happen during the day, when wholesale electricity prices are at their lowest. This is part of the reason why the feed-in tariffs are lower than those for retail prices.

How we calculate the minimum feed-in tariffs

Legislation controls how we regulate the minimum feed-in tariffs. The costs we must include are set out in the Electricity Industry Act 2000. By no later than 28 February each year, we must set the minimum feed-in tariffs to apply for the next financial year.

We calculate the minimum feed-in tariffs by forecasting the wholesale price of electricity for the year ahead. This has the following affect on the minimum feed-in tariffs:

• The forecast includes wholesale electricity market information available up to the time of the decision. This means that for each decision effective from 1 July, the forecast wholesale prices are based on market information up to February of that year.
• Any changes in the wholesale electricity market after the publication of the final decision are reflected in the next decision. This means any changes in the wholesale electricity market after the final decision will be incorporated in the wholesale electricity price forecasts for the feed-in tariffs for 1 July of the next financial year.

The wholesale price varies across different times of the day due to changing supply and demand. As solar panels generally export power between certain hours of the day, we only use the forecast wholesale price for electricity during these ‘solar hours’.

In our calculation of the feed-in tariffs, we also include:

1. avoided transmission and distribution losses: the value of energy saved by not transporting the energy long distances from large scale generators.
2. other fees and charges: the value of market fees and ancillary service charges that retailers avoid when energy is produced by solar customers.
3. environmental and social benefits of renewable energy: the value associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions when energy is produced by solar customers. It is currently set at 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh). 

For more information about our methodology and review process for the 2024–25 minimum feed-in tariff, see our final decision paper.

Got a question?

Contact us for more information. 

This code sets out the rules electricity and gas retailers must follow when selling energy to Victorian customers. This page also includes guidance to help industry and consumers understand their existing obligations under the Energy Retail Code of Practice.

It covers areas including:

• customer contracts
• billing disputes
• payment difficulties
• contents of bills. 

We review and amend the code to reflect legislative and statutory requirements, and to make sure it meets changing requirements. 

This page allows you to access amendments that are yet to commence and past versions of the code.

‘Fixed benefit’ periods are a feature of some customer’s energy contracts. They are typically a set period of time during which a discount or benefit applies. For example, a 20 per cent discount for the first 12 months of a two year contract. 

In early 2018, we changed the Energy Retail Code so that energy retailers in Victoria must notify customers when any 'fixed benefit' periods change or end.

From February 1 2018, retailers in Victoria are required to notify customers when any fixed benefit periods change or end

We have made these changes to the Energy Retail Code so that customers know about upcoming changes to their benefits before they happen. This will provide customers with an opportunity to consider their options, including switching to a better offer. Under the changes, retailers are also required to remind customers they can compare energy plans by visiting the government’s Victorian Energy Compare website.

You can find more detail about these changes in our final decision, which is in line with our draft decisions. You can also read the submissions we received in response to the draft decision. We considered this feedback prior to releasing our final decision. 

We’re making this change in line with recent national updates

The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) also changed the national energy retail rules to require retailers operating in other states to notify their customers of upcoming changes to their discounts or benefits. The AEMC made the change via its expedited rule change process, which means these changes took effect on 1 February 2018.

In 2017, the Victorian Government introduced new rules for exempt persons that requires them to register with us for an electricity licensing exemption. Many exempt sellers and suppliers that do not have an electricity licence, and supply or sell electricity to other people, must register with us.

You may need to register with us if you:

• buy electricity from a licensed retailer and then sell it to other people
• supply electricity between the electricity meter and individual customers.

Under the new rules, solar power purchase agreement providers and some community energy projects also need to register with us.

The General Exemption Order

In Victoria, the Electricity Industry Act 2000 requires that persons undertaking a regulated activity, such as the sale or supply of electricity, need a licence unless there is an exemption that applies. The General Exemption Order (GEO) sets out the activities which are eligible for an exemption, and the conditions which must be complied with.

Key changes in the General Exemption Order 2022

In October 2018, the Victorian Government announced an election commitment to restrict embedded networks in new residential apartment buildings, with limited exemptions.

The GEO 2022 implements phase one of the reforms, restricting the sale of energy in relation to the new embedded networks (where there are 10 or more residential customers) unless the exempt person can meet specific conditions, including a new renewable energy condition.

Persons who are undertaking sale in relation to an embedded network pursuant to an exemption under the GEO 2017 will not, however, need to comply with the renewable energy condition, as this only applies to new embedded networks as of 1 January 2023.

The GEO 2022 requires that electricity sold or supplied by an exempt person, including new embedded networks which have to meet the new renewable energy condition, must not exceed the Victorian Default Offer which is the relevant maximum price formulated by the Essential Services Commission. 

The GEO 2022 also exempts persons that sell or supply electricity for the purposes of charging an electric vehicle from having to obtain a licence.

The General Exemption Order 2022 (GEO 2022) commenced on 1 January 2023.

Transitional provisions under the GEO 2022 give certainty to existing exemption holders that their exemptions under the GEO 2017 will continue to apply. However, from 1 January 2023, anyone relying on an exemption under the GEO 2022 will be responsible for ensuring they register with the commission (if applicable) and comply with any applicable conditions.

Additional information about the changes are included in this Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning fact sheet.

New renewable energy condition

The new renewable energy condition requires that 100 per cent of electricity sold by an exempt person at a new embedded network site, with 10 or more residential customers, must come from renewable energy sources.  

The condition requires that at least five per cent of the electricity sold to residential customers must be generated using onsite renewable energy facilities and that the balance is covered by offsite renewable energy.

An exempt person at a new embedded network must keep records of the following for at least seven years and provide a summary of this information to the commission annually:

• the amount of electricity supplied to that new embedded network from a licensed distribution company’s distribution system;
• the amount of electricity supplied to that new embedded network that is generated by means of that new embedded network’s onsite renewable energy facilities;
• the amount of electricity the exempt person sells to residential customers in that new embedded network including the amount of that electricity that is generated by means of that new embedded network’s onsite renewable energy facilities;
• any qualifying LGCs voluntarily surrendered by the exempt person;
• any voluntary surrender arrangement; and
• any GreenPower arrangement.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations

The sale or supply of electricity from EV charging stations now have their own deemed exemption categories in the GEO 2022.

Each year on or before 1 February, such deemed exempt persons must provide information to the commission, in the form required by the commission, with details of:

• the number of customers ​to whom they have sold electricity and
• the number of electric vehicles that have been charged with that electricity.

Further Information

If you have general questions about the Embedded Networks Review and subsequent reforms included in the GEO 2022, please contact the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning at embeddednetworks.review@delwp.vic.gov.au.

If you have questions regarding the registration database, consumer protections or pricing relating to exempt persons, please contact the Essential Services Commission at exemptionregister@esc.vic.gov.au or 1300 664 969.

If you have questions regarding the Australian Energy Regulator’s network exemptions framework, please contact the Australian Energy Regulator at AERinquiry@aer.gov.au or 1300 585 165.

This review focused on amending the Electricity Distribution Code to allow for the operation of Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiter (REFCL) technology to prevent bushfires.

We have now updated the code

Changes to the code enable use of REFCLs at 45 high voltage substations in high risk fire areas across Victoria. The introduction of the technology was an outcome of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission and subsequent new bushfire mitigation regulations.

The amended code allows for future installation of REFCLs at additional sites on the high voltage for safety and other purposes provided this is approved by Energy Safe Victoria.

The changes to the code came into effect on 20 August 2018.

We have been asked by the Victorian Government to monitor and report on the competitiveness and efficiency of the Victorian energy retail market, as part of recommendations made by the independent bipartisan review of electricity and gas retail markets in 2018.

Since then, we have engaged with interested stakeholders and the public to develop a framework and approach to help assess whether the Victorian energy retail market is delivering good value to energy consumers.

We held a public forum on 7 November 2019 to hear from a broad range of experts including economists, energy experts, consumer advocates, industry, regulators, commentators and policy makers about their perspectives on this topic. See the resources tab for presentation materials from the forum.

It will help ensure that the Victorian energy retail market delivers benefits to consumers by providing value for money energy prices and great customer service.

The Victorian energy market report 2020–21 provides our first report under this framework. In this report, we provide a detailed article on a ‘striking consumer preference’ for large energy retailers, including detailed economic analysis and research on how the market is functioning.