Energy retail authorisation by state — regulator, licence and customer protection compared

No. One AER retailer authorisation under the National Energy Retail Law covers NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT (and the network of customers across them). You still need to register with the Australian Energy Market Operator and join the relevant energy ombudsman scheme in each state where you have customers, but the retail authorisation itself is single.

Victoria considers its pre-existing customer protection framework — particularly the Payment Difficulty Framework introduced in 2019 — to be stronger than the NECF baseline in several respects, so it has not transitioned. Western Australia's south-west market and north-west market are physically separate from the National Electricity Market and operate under a state-specific regime administered by the ERA, with retail dominated by the government-owned Synergy and Horizon Power. NT is also outside NECF.

Both are regulated reference prices for standing-offer customers, but they're set by different regulators under different regimes. The DMO is set annually by the AER for NSW, South East Queensland and South Australia under NECF. The VDO is set annually by the Essential Services Commission for Victoria under the Electricity Industry Act 2000 (Vic). Both also serve as a reference price for market-offer advertising rules — a retailer's market offer must be compared to the DMO or VDO when marketing.

No — disconnection of a hardship customer is restricted as a last-resort option under NERL s 43 and NERR Pt 6. Across NECF jurisdictions, disconnection is also prohibited while a complaint about disconnection is unresolved, while the customer is awaiting a concession decision, during weekends and public holidays, and where the customer is a registered life-support customer. Victoria's Payment Difficulty Framework imposes similar restrictions, as does WA's Code of Conduct Pt 6. NT applies similar protections through the Electricity Retail Supply Code.