October 2025 Energy Regulation Update: Consumer Protections and Embedded Networks

Changes in Victoria

From the start of October 2025 regulators in Australia have rolled out new consumer protection measures and signalled further reforms for embedded network customers and exempt energy sellers. The Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) stage‑one decision on energy consumer reforms means that from February 2026 retailers will need to display the Energy & Water Ombudsman Victoria (EWOV) contact details on the front page of every bill and automatically switch customers experiencing payment difficulty onto their best available offer. Other stage‑one changes include improved access to concessions, easier switching to cheaper plans, stronger protections for customers on legacy contracts and a higher debt threshold of A$1 000 before disconnection.

EWON complaint trends

The Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW (EWON) used its 2024‑25 annual report to reveal that the organisation managed 27 588 complaints, with 72 per cent relating to billing issues and seven per cent relating to credit problems such as disconnections, arrears and debt collection. Ombudsman Janine Young warned that one in five households are experiencing or are vulnerable to energy affordability issues and emphasised that EWON’s new Extra Help team has been established to support customers facing severe financial stress.

Source: EWON’s annual report 2024-2025

NSW embedded network reforms

On 11 October the NSW Government unveiled a plan to ensure fairer energy deals for embedded network customers. The plan introduces a price cap aligned with the median of the lowest competitive market offers and provides customers with access to free and independent dispute resolution via EWON, national and state rebates and payment support programmes (www.energy.nsw.gov.au). It also requires disclosure of embedded network arrangements before a property is purchased or leased and restricts long‑term supply contracts (www.energy.nsw.gov.au). With more than 95 000 households in NSW using embedded networks, the government intends to legislate these reforms in 2026 (www.energy.nsw.gov.au).

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