Energy - Consumer Action Law Centre

Inhumane energy disconnections must end: $500K Sumo Power fine

Consumer Action has welcomed the Essential Services Commission (ESC) imposing $500,000 in penalties on energy retailer Sumo Power Pty Ltd for wrongfully disconnecting hundreds of families in the lead...

Image of wind turbines denoting a submission about energy

Payment difficulty framework implementation review: feedback on key review questions

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) has provided feedback on the Essential Services Commission’s key review questions as part of their review of the implementation of the energy payment diff...

Victorian Default Offer 2022

Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s Draft Decision: Victorian Default Offer from 1 January 2022 (the draft decision). The draft dec...

Supporting South Australian Council of Social Service’s submission to the Remote Area Energy Supply Scheme Issues Paper

Samantha Rudolph is a Wurundjeri woman, and the Aboriginal Policy Officer with Consumer Action Law Centre. She works as part of an integrated practice project addressing the systemic causes of consume...

Improvements in consumer protection for solar welcome, but more needed

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) review into rooftop solar makes some important proposals improve accountability for solar retailers, but for the new rules to really be effective, reform needs to go f...

Energy Assistance Report: Second Edition

This is Consumer Action Law Centre’s (Consumer Action) second Energy Assistance Report, following our previous report published in July 2019. The original report explored whether the introduction o...

REPORT: Victorians living alone and single parents continue to struggle with energy debt

A report released today by Consumer Action Law Centre has found that while Victoria’s energy retailers are slowly improving their support of people having difficulty paying their bills, Victorians liv...

Telstra Energy – application for electricity and gas retail licence raises questions

This submission is made jointly to the Essential Services Commission from the Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, Financial Counselling Victoria and the Victorian Aboriginal L...

Regulating with consumer vulnerability in mind: Essential Services Commission’s draft strategy

Consumer Action welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) draft consumer access and equity strategy, Getting to fair: Breaking down barriers to essential service...

2022 Victorian Default Offer

Consumer Action welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s (the Commission) consultation paper, Next steps for the Victorian Default Offer (the Consultation Paper). The...

Access, pricing and incentive arrangements for distributed energy resources

Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) Access, pricing and incentive arrangements for distributed energy resources (DER) dra...

Next steps for the Victorian Default Offer

Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s (the Commisson) consultation paper Next steps for the Victorian Default Offer. These comments...

Tougher rules banning aggressive energy & solar sales a big win for all Victorians

Consumer Action has welcomed the Victorian Government’s announcement today that it is banning high-pressure sales tactics like unsolicited door-to-door sales and cold-calling to protect people from be...

Consumer group calls for unsolicited sale ban after solar company fined $3 million

This week the Federal Court of Australia ordered Vic Solar to pay a $3 million fine for violating provisions of the Australian Consumer Law relating to unsolicited sales, among other breaches of cons...

Surge in disconnections a blow to thousands during COVID

The latest data from the Essential Services Commission (ESC) reveals a big surge in the number of people being disconnected from their energy supply and increasing numbers of people struggling to keep...

Vic Government called on to act as big gaps in consumer protection put solar customers at risk

Consumer Action has today published a report calling on the Victorian Government to fix the gaps in consumer protections that are leaving thousands of solar customers prey to high-pressure sales tacti...

Report: Our response to the New Energy Tech Consumer Code

The New Energy Tech Consumer Code (NET Code) is a voluntary industry code of conduct, which sets practice standards for the sale of New Energy Technology (NET) products, systems, and services by retai...

Victoria’s Embedded Networks Review: Our response

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Embedded Networks Review (the Review) Issues Paper. We support the Victorian Government’s decision to ban emb...

Victoria’s energy reforms positive but enforcement needed: Report

Victoria has taken the lead among Australian states in recent years with significant reforms designed to protect Victorians from being ripped off by energy retailers and ensure people receive appropri...

‘Bills here, bills there’: Report on the lived experience of Victorian energy reform

This report is a deep dive into how energy reforms of recent years are impacting Victorians. Taking a qualitative approach, we draw on interviews and case studies to examine how recent reforms are hel...

Lower bills a welcome relief for people on the Victorian Default Offer but room for further reductions

The Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) announcement today that electricity bills will decrease for households on the Victorian Default Offer (VDO) is good news, but it is disappointing that the cos...

Energy efficiency and targeted rebate plan to help with big energy bills the right approach

Consumer Action Law Centre has welcomed the Victorian Government’s announcement today to help thousands of concession holders manage their energy bills. For many people in our community, home ener...

The Rooftop Solar Sector Review: Our Submission

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to provide input into the Clean Energy Regulator’s (CER) review into the rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) sector. There has been...

Victorian Default Offer 2021 – Draft Decision

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Service Commission’s (the Commission) Victorian Default Offer 2021 Draft Decision (the Draft Decision)...

Australian Competition Tribunal decision: A missed opportunity to improve solar sales practices

The Australian Competition Tribunal (the Tribunal) has handed down its decision today on the New Energy Tech Consumer Code (the Code), the proposed industry code for new energy technology such as sola...

Inquiry into Victoria’s Response to COVID-19

COVID-19 has deeply affected the Victorian community in unprecedented ways. With a significant number of job losses and most of the population staying at home in compliance with public health orders,...

Submission to the Essential Services Commission on the Victorian Default Offer

Consumer Action has made a submission to the Essential Services Commission on the Victorian Default Offer electricity price that is to apply from 1 January 2021. We consider that there is room to r...

Supporting energy customers through the coronavirus pandemic – Draft Decision

COVID-19 has caused significant disruption to households in Victoria and has highlighted the need to ensure that people’s health is not put at risk because of barriers to accessing energy for appropri...

Submission supporting the re-authorisation of the Solar Code

Consumer Action has supported the Clean Energy Council (CEC)’s application for re-authorisation of the Solar Retailer Code of Conduct (the Solar Code). Principally, we support the application to avoid...

Submission: Essential Service Commission’s Electricity Distribution Code review

Consumer Action has commented on the Essential Service Commission’s (ESC) Electricity Distribution Code review – customer service standards draft decision (Draft Decision). We generally support the pr...

Submission: Maximum prices for embedded networks and other exempt sellers

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Service Commission’s (ESC) Maximum prices for embedded networks and other exempt sellers Draft Decisio...

A joint submission to the Electricity Distribution Price Review (2022-2027 Victorian EDPR)

Affordable electricity remains critical for vulnerable Victorians and a lack of energy affordability denies people sufficient access to an essential service. Further, high energy costs are a major cau...

Consumer Action asks Tribunal to stop ‘buy now pay later’ solar rip offs

Today the Australian Competition Tribunal will commence hearing arguments on the New Energy Tech Consumer Code (the Code), the proposed industry code for new energy technology such as solar panel sale...

Woman in red t-shirt looking at her laptop, stressed.

Overwhelmed by bills or struggling financially as a result of COVID-19?

COVID-19 means this year we are staying at home now more than ever. As a result, your bills might be a lot higher than they were. As we enter the winter months, keeping warm and safe is more impo...

Australians urged to share their stories about financial hardship during COVID-19

Today, Consumer Action Law Centre has launched an online form to enable people to share their experiences of financial hardship during the Covid-19 emergency. The goal is to help track the severity an...

Are you experiencing financial hardship during the Covid-19 crisis?

...

$3.7 million package announced for Victorians struggling with energy bills

Consumer Action Law Centre CEO Gerard Brody says that the Victorian Government’s $3.7 million package for people having difficulty paying their energy bills is a well-timed funding boost as we head in...

Over 1,000 requests to disconnect Victorians for not paying their electricity bills during Covid-19 health crisis

The latest figures from the Essential Services Commission (ESC) reveal that more than 1,000 requests have been made to disconnect Victorians from electricity for not paying their bills since late Marc...

Assessing the energy retail market’s competitiveness and efficiency

Consumer Action has provided a submission to the Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) consultation "Assessing the competitiveness and efficiency of the Victorian energy retail market" The submissi...

Community and consumer organisation joint proposal: COVID-19 National Energy Hardship Relief Package

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre joins a coalition of leading consumer and community organisations to call for immediate Commonwealth Government funding and stronger commitments by energy businesse...

Keep communities connected, urge more than 40 community organisations across Australia

As more people face the prospect of losing work due to the COVID-19 health crisis, community organisations are calling on banks, telcos, energy retailers, and rental providers to help people stay con...

Keeping communities connected

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A little relief will go a long way for thousands struggling due to COVID-19

Widespread disruption caused by COVID-19 is being felt across Australia. It won’t be long before we have thousands of people trying to survive on a reduced income, worried about whether they can pay t...

Households in embedded networks need fair electricity prices

Households in embedded networks are often in effective monopoly situations with little regulatory oversight. For this reason, they need the same or better protections than their peers with conventiona...

Maintain households’ rights when accessing essential energy services

As new energy products and services create more options for consumers to access energy offers with non-conventional pricing or features, the complexity of making decisions increases and poses more ris...

New report reveals how irresponsible lenders are causing harm in Victorian Aboriginal communities

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) are launching a new report on how irresponsible lenders are causing harm in Victorian Aboriginal communit...

Consumer Issues in Victorian Aboriginal Communities: Integrated Practice Project Report 2020

‘Consumer issues in Victorian Aboriginal communities’ reports findings from Consumer Action Law Centre’s (Consumer Action) and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s (VALS) Integrated Practice proje...

Implement strong protections to ensure households benefit from new energy technology

Consumer Action’s legal and financial counselling services have regularly assisted consumers experiencing harm as solar technology grows in popularity in Victoria. Our Power Transformed, Knock It Off!...

Energy contracts can only be fair if all Victorian energy users have the same protections

Despite the introduction of the Victorian Default Offer for electricity, the state’s most vulnerable energy consumers still face challenges in the market. Energy prices changing unexpectedly, excessiv...

Remove barriers to energy efficiency for rental properties

Consumer Action’s National Debt Helpline service provided financial counselling to over 11,000 people in the 2018/19 financial year. Often issues with low quality rental properties or disputes with re...

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