{"id":6892,"date":"2020-06-10T13:04:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T13:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=6892"},"modified":"2020-06-10T13:04:52","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T13:04:52","slug":"new-and-stronger-energy-laws-to-put-australian-families-and-small-businesses-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/06\/10\/new-and-stronger-energy-laws-to-put-australian-families-and-small-businesses-first\/","title":{"rendered":"New And Stronger Energy Laws To Put Australian Families And Small Businesses First"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Morrison Government\u2019s new measures to deal with misconduct in the electricity sector and ensure Australian households, businesses and industries get a fair deal on energy are now in force.<br \/>\nFor too long, electricity companies have, in the words of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), \u201cplayed a major role in poor outcomes for consumers\u201d.<br \/>\nTo address this, the &#8216;Big Stick\u2019 legislation which holds the energy companies to account for misconduct comes into effect today, six months after royal assent and will drive down energy prices and strengthen supply.<br \/>\nThe \u2018Big Stick\u2019 legislation will ensure reductions in wholesale costs are passed on to customers, while penalties will apply for anti-competitive behaviour or moves to manipulate electricity prices.<br \/>\nThis new law comes at an important time, with an increased number of households and small businesses experiencing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<br \/>\nThe ACCC will be responsible for enforcing the legislation, and will have a graduated range of penalties at its disposal to punish misconduct ranging from public warnings and court ordered fines.<br \/>\nFor the most egregious breaches, the legislation makes available two additional significant remedies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Treasurer-issued contracting orders that will require electricity companies to offer electricity financial contracts to third parties; and<\/li>\n<li>Federal Court ordered divestiture orders relating to misconduct in the wholesale market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This legislation is part of the Government\u2019s plan to deliver a fairer, more affordable and reliable energy system and a stronger economy for all Australians. This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Establishing an ongoing ACCC inquiry into the National Electricity Market to 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Introducing the Government&#8217;s Default Market Offer &#8216;price safety net&#8217;, leading to reductions in both standing offers and high-priced market offers for Australian families and small businesses.<\/li>\n<li>Getting rid of sneaky late payment penalties.<\/li>\n<li>Extending the Consumer Data Right to energy, to make it easier for consumers to switch energy providers to get a better deal.<\/li>\n<li>Progressing the Underwriting New Generation Investments program to improve competition and reduce wholesale prices.<\/li>\n<li>Establishing a new $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund, to support Government investment in new energy generation, storage and transmission infrastructure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More information about the new laws is available at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">energy.gov.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Morrison Government\u2019s new measures to deal with misconduct in the electricity sector and ensure Australian households, businesses and industries get a fair deal on energy are now in force. For too long, electricity companies have, in the words of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), \u201cplayed a major role in poor outcomes for &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/06\/10\/new-and-stronger-energy-laws-to-put-australian-families-and-small-businesses-first\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;New And Stronger Energy Laws To Put Australian Families And Small Businesses First&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}