The legislative framework that regulates electricity retail licencing and exemption activities is under the Electricity Industry Act 2004. This framework has not kept pace with the rapid growth of emerging and atypical electricity business models.
As a result, this regulatory regime does not provide customers of alternative electricity services the same kinds of protections that other electricity consumers enjoy.
In 2019, the Minister for Energy asked Energy Policy WA to review the regulatory framework for electricity retail licensing and exemptions, and released a statement that paused further consideration of licence exemptions for solar power purchase agreement providers.
The review was completed in November 2020 and identified a preferred regulatory framework to give customers of alternative electricity services better protections, including access to the Energy Ombudsman.
This preferred framework is now being implemented as the Alternative Electricity Services (AES) framework.
Review reports
Directions Report, Creating a dynamic customer protection framework
Announcements
