Energy retailers paid a record $24,467,958 for breaching Victoria's consumer protections in 2025, as the state's essential services regulator continued its crackdown on practices that exacerbate cost of living pressures or negatively affect vulnerable customers.
The Essential Services Commission took action for a wide range of breaches, from failures to protect vulnerable customers, to illegal telemarketing and billing issues, reinforcing that unlawful conduct will be identified and have consequences.
In March, Origin Energy received the largest financial penalty for breaches of Victoria's energy rules in the state's history, when the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered it to pay $17.6 million for failures including:
- not providing adequate support to customers experiencing payment difficulty
- overcharging customers
- not adequately recording information of customers on the Life Support Register.
Earlier in 2025, Origin also paid a $1.6 million fine for family violence failures, including allegedly disclosing sensitive information of family violence affected customers without their consent.
The commission issued penalty notices for the following:
- $924,600 to AGL for allegedly raising prices for 15,845 residential and small business customers
- $1,206,050 to ENGIE for allegedly failing to respond to customer complaints about billing issues in a timely manner
- $764,380 to Momentum Energy for allegedly failing to uphold critical protections for customers affected by family violence, including disclosing personal information to perpetrators
- $1,066,986 to EnergyAustralia for allegedly giving customers incorrect information about its best energy deals
- $961,550 to Pacific Blue for failing to credit the accounts of over 6000 customers
- $341,724 to CovaU for illegal telemarketing.
The commission also accepted a court enforceable undertaking from EnergyAustralia worth around $1.2 million in customer redress, after it failed to meet its obligations under the payment difficulty framework.
The commission's regulatory priorities are available on its website.
Upcoming changes to energy rules
The commission introduced significant changes to energy rules this year that will benefit consumers in 2026. In October 2026, the minimum debt a consumer can be disconnected for increases from $300 to $1000 and retailers must:
- move customers onto their cheapest plan if they are on payment difficulty support, or have been in debt for more than three months and owe more than $1,000
- offer payment methods other than direct debit for each plan
- have effective processes available for customers to switch to their best offer.
