National Energy Customer Framework: consultation on implementation in NSW
Last updated: 29 February 2012
The National Energy Customer Framework (NECF) is the next major stage in the national energy reform process, as agreed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) under the Australian Energy Market Agreement (AEMA). The NECF involves the harmonisation of State-based regulatory frameworks (excluding retail price regulation and community service obligations) for the retail energy market and energy distribution sector into a single set of national rules. The focus of the NECF is on providing a regulatory framework for the relationship between energy customers and the energy retailers and distributors that supply them, and includes a range of energy-specific consumer protections.
The legislation to implement the NECF received Royal Assent on 17 March 2001 after passage through the South Australian Parliament. These Bills can be viewed here.
Various Rules and Regulations have also been released and are available at: www.mce.gov.au.
As agreed by the Ministerial Council on Energy (MCE) on 10 December 2010, participating states and territories are working towards a target commencement date of 1 July 2012 for the NECF. In order to deal with issues common to all jurisdictions, a national working group has been established – the Joint Implementation Group (JIG).
NSW is preparing to transition to the NECF and information on the NSW approach to the implementation is available for download below:
This document is to provide stakeholders with guidance around how the transition to NECF will occur in NSW.
Further information on the detailed approach to transition as well as the remaining policy matters is available here:
Consultation on the implementation of NECF in NSW was conducted in September 2010 and the feedback from this consultation has been taken into consideration in determining arrangements for implementing the NECF.
Download the consultation paper
- NSW Implementation of the National Energy Customer Framework - Policy Paper for Consultation, September 2010 (404 kb,
) -
Submissions received from this consultation are available - see Submissions.