The South Australian Council of Social Service welcomes new proposals to better protect consumers against ‘bill shock’ brought on by the accelerated rollout of smart meters and associated tariffs. 

The Australian Energy Market Commission’s latest directions paper proposes new measures including:

• A three-year requirement for consumers to give their explicit informed consent on moving to a new tariff; and
• A mandatory flat tariff option being made available to all customers (instead of automatically being moved to a time-of-use tariff)

SACOSS has long advocated for better protections for South Australian consumers, who are paying the highest energy prices in Australia, and in particular those consumers on lower incomes or who are experiencing disadvantage.

In its most recent AEMC submission, SACOSS indicated its broad concerns about the transparency of costs associated with the smart meter roll-out, arguing that It is unacceptable that consumers have no visibility of the metering costs incurred on their behalf. 

Quotes attributable to Ross Womersley, SACOSS CEO

The AEMC’s latest proposals are welcome and are something that SACOSS has been asking for over quite some time. It shows that, at long last, the needs and rights of consumers are being appropriately factored into energy policy.

Electricity is an essential service – no South Australian can do without it. And yet, under the current structures, South Australian consumers are being moved on to smart meters and associated tariffs with little or no choice and information, and then receiving bill shock because they weren’t aware of what these changes mean for their energy consumption.

The whole premise of smart meters and time-of-use tariffs, according to the energy industry, is that their usage will encourage consumer behaviour change. It assumes consumers have the ability, and will want, to change their energy usage patterns to better suit market operators.

This is simply not the case, and it’s felt more acutely by those South Australians on lower incomes who simply cannot afford higher bills and yet have no choice in having a smart meter installed and then being put on time-of-use tariffs with no explanation or warning.

The AEMC’s proposals show that it is listening to consumer sentiment, and it is an encouraging first step towards a broader suite of protections that SACOSS will continue to advocate for. It is now up to State and Federal Governments to keep working with the energy industry to ensure there is appropriate regulation and oversight so that South Australians – particularly those on lower incomes and who are most vulnerable to further cost-of-living pressures – can make informed choices about their energy service and associated costs.