Understanding the new customer protections

An AES registration holder must have a written supply agreement with each customer that must include certain information such as tariffs, fees and charges and how they may be varied.

Your AES registration holder must provide you with a written copy of a completed Disclosure Statement prior to supplying you with electricity or, if that is not possible, no later than with your first bill. The Disclosure Statement must be in the format [as published here].

Your AES provider must ensure that you have an individual meter that complies with any applicable specification/s or guidelines (including any transitional arrangements) specified by the National Measurement Institute and any other applicable standard required by Law unless, at [date], the supply address was not separately metered.

In addition, following a request from you, your AES provider must provide certain information about your meter, provide access to your meter and test your meter. The AES provider can only charge you for the meter test if the test determines the meter is not faulty.

If your meter is not an Interval Meter and you request an Interval Meter, the AES/SPN provider must install an Interval Meter, subject to you paying for the Interval Meter and the reasonable costs of its installation.

Your AES provider must issue a bill at least once every 60 days unless you and your provider agree otherwise, when the recurrent period must not be more than 100 days. The AES provider must use its best endeavours to read your meter and base the bill on information from the meter for each billing cycle. Where the AES/SPN provider bases your bill on an estimated reading, that must be clearly detailed on the bill.

The information the bill must contain includes:

• The supply address.
• Customer's details and, if applicable, account number, unique identifier and meter identification number.
• The start and end date of the supply period, and number of days covered by the bill.
• The electricity consumption, or estimated consumption, in units for the supply period.
• The applicable tariff, any fees and charges and total amount payable.
• The date the bill is due or, if paid automatically, the date the amount will be debited.
• A summary of the available payment methods.
• Where required, information about the AES provider's:
  • financial hardship policy
  • family violence policy
  • telephone number/s, email address/s or website link/s for billing and payment queries, complaints and dispute resolution
  • information about energy concessions, and multi-lingual and other accessibility services

If you request a review of a bill, your AES provider must review the bill within a reasonable time and inform you of the outcome as soon as practicable after it is completed.

Your AES provider must ensure that the supply agreement sets out certain information on tariffs and prices, including the Default Flat Rate Tariff, an agreed alternative tariff (if applicable), any other fees and charges, when and how the AES provider may vary the tariffs, fees and charges.

For residential customers, unless agreed between the AES provider and customers, the Default Flat Rate Tariff must not exceed the tariff specified in the applicable legislation for Synergy's or Horizon Power's supply area [Link].

Your AES provider must have a financial hardship policy. The policy must outline the measures it will take to assist residential customers experiencing financial hardship.

If you are experiencing financial hardship, your first step is to look at your electricity provider's financial hardship policy, which should be available on its website. It will include an overview of the assistance and concessions available to residential customers and information on the availability of financial counselling services and access to consumer representatives. You may also like to look on the [LINK Financial Counsellor’ Association of WA] website, where you can search for a financial counsellor in your region.

Some of the measures your AES provider is required to take include:

• Offering additional time to pay an amount due.
• Offering a payment plan.
• Discussing in good faith a reduction or waiver of fees, charges or debt.

Your AES provider must have a family violence policy, which will outline the measures it will take to assist residential customers experiencing family violence.

Under the family violence policy, the AES provider must:

• Offer additional time to pay a bill.
• Offer a payment plan.
• Discuss in good faith a reduction or waiver of fees, charges or debt.
• Take reasonable steps to protect your information and establish a safe method of communication.

There are times when a retailer and distributor can disconnect your energy supply. Common examples include when you:

• Do not pay a bill by the due date. Before disconnecting, the AES provider must send you a reminder notice and a disconnection warning.
• Deny access to your meter. It is your responsibility to allow the AES provider to go on to your property to read the meter. If this is not possible (for example, you have a dog or a locked gate), then you must let the AES provider know and arrange to read your own meter and provide the reading to your AES provider. If you do not provide access to your meter and do not arrange with your AES provider to read your own meter, you can be disconnected.

Your electricity supply can also be disconnected in an emergency or for planned and unplanned repairs and maintenance. Where your supply is disconnected in an emergency or for unplanned repairs, your AES registration holder must use best endeavours to contact you as soon as possible. Where a planned interruption is anticipated and your AES registration holder has had advanced notification from the licensed distributor, they must pass on that notification.

Following rectifying a failure to pay, denying meter access or illegal consumption, the AES registration holder must arrange for reconnection within two days of the rectification.

Your AES provider must have a complaints and dispute resolution procedure, using its best endeavours to comply with Australian/New Zealand Standard 10002:2022.

If you have a disagreement with your AES provider that you have not been able to resolve with them, you may contact the Energy and Water Ombudsman.

If you rely on life support equipment, you may provide written confirmation from an Appropriately Qualified Medical Practitioner to your AES provider who is required to record that information and pass on the confirmation to the licensed retailer supplying electricity from the main grid.

This enables the licensed retailer/distributor to ensure notifications on planned outages are provided to the SPN AES registration holder within a specified time. The SPN AES registration holder...

If you wish to offset the carbon or associated emissions from the electricity you purchase, you may ask your SPN provider who is required to use reasonable endeavours to facilitate the request. This may entail, for example, the SPN provider negotiating with the licensed retailer supplying the property for an alternative supply.

You are liable for any additional costs associated with the alternative supply, which may be charged as an additional charge itemised on your bill or as part of the tariff structure agreed with you. If you request it, your SPN provider must provide auditable written evidence that it has offset the relevant supply of electricity and details of how the additional costs are calculated.

If you consume more than 50 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per year, you may be eligible to request an Alternate Supply from a licensed retailer. Your AES provider must not prevent or prohibit you from making a request.

If an Alternate Supply is obtained, you are responsible for paying the reasonable costs associated with the Alternate Supply, including costs relating to altering the master meter and other metering installation costs and the associated electricity works.