- Electricity competition is progressively being introduced to Tasmania
- What is Contestability?
- Who is eligible?
- Important dates
- Time to think differently about your electricity and who supplies it
- What happens if you do nothing?
Electricity competition is progressively being introduced to Tasmania
Tasmania joined the National Electricity Market (NEM) in 2005 and as part of the decision to join, the State Government introduced competition for retail electricity sales in Tasmania.
A significant shift in how Tasmanians can purchase electricity, this new retail environment is progressively being introduced (it would be five years if Tranche 5 was included).
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What is Contestability?
Starting with the largest users of electricity, access to licensed retailers and the wholesale electricity market has been made available through staged tranches. Four tranches of customers have become contestable since 1 July 2006. Each tranche has been determined by annual consumption and once eligible to participate you are known as a contestable customer. The Government has yet to decide whether to extend retail contestability to residential and small business customers.
Once contestable, you can source your electricity from a retailer of your choice or from the wholesale market.
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Who is eligible?
If you use more than 0.15 GWh per year, then you are eligible to choose your electricity retailer from one of the elctricity retailers licensed in Tasmania. use of 0.15 GWh translates to electricity bills of around $25 000 per year.
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Important dates
Date |
Description |
1 July 2009 |
Tranche 4 customers, which typically include restaurants, large offices and service stations, became contestable |
30 June 2010 |
Tranche 4 customers must have entered into a contract. |
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Time to think differently about your electricity and who supplies it
Retail electricity competition means you can choose the price and service package that best suits your needs.
Once contestable you can decide which retailer and product best suits your business’s needs. Balancing issues of price, supply, reliability and risk, a contract will need to be entered into with the retailer of your choice.
The four licensed electricity suppliers in Tasmania are:
- Aurora Energy
- Country Energy*
- ERM Power Retail
- TRUenergy*
*Country Energy and TRUenergy have advised the Regulator that they do not currently intend to offer market contracts to Tranche 3 and Tranche 4 customers in Tasmania.
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What happens if you do nothing?
A new contract should be negotiated and entered into before 30 June 2010 if you are a Tranche 4 customer.
If after 12 months you have not entered into a retail contract with a retailer, a Deemed Fallback Contract will come into effect. This can have a significant impact on your business.
If you have not chosen another retailer or entered the wholesale market, you will still be supplied with electricity by the host retailer, Aurora Energy, but not under the regulated tariffs previously available.
It is in your best interest to make sure your business has supply arrangements in place with a retailer of your choice before the 12 month grace period expires.
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