Right before Christmas, on 18 December, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, better known as the ACCC, released its Inquiry into the National Electricity Market report.
The report is one of a long line beginning from 2018 when the then Treasurer, Scott Morrison, directed the ACCC to hold a public inquiry into the "prices, profits, and margins in the supply of electricity in the national electricity market". The inquiry was expected to finish in August 2025, but the current Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, decided to extend it.
The latest report makes for interesting reading because it points out that retail prices have increased considerably for most consumers in 2025 "by 6% overall for residential customers that do not have a controlled load".
Customers in New South Wales will be especially unhappy, with that state recording the biggest annual price increase of 8.8%.
But all things are not equal. The ACCC also found that prices also vary between plan types.
In no surprise to National Seniors Australia (NSA), the ACCC found that customers on demand tariffs (without controlled load) pay significantly higher prices than other customers.
A demand tariff is a tariff that charges a customer an additional charge across an entire billing period based on the highest electricity usage (demand) recorded on a single day during a specific peak period (such as the evening). If you have one evening where your usage was particularly high in a 30-minute period, you'll pay a demand charge for every day of your bill, even if your usage was much less every other day!
Seniors and other households in NSW within the Ausgrid network (Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter Region and Newcastle) should be particularly wary if they have a new smart meter installed. They will be placed on a default demand tariff, which could result in significant bill shock.
NSA has, for some time, called for these tariffs to be banned - something the NSW Minister for Energy, Penny Sharpe, should be listening to.
The report also found that there has been a proliferation of energy plans across the National Energy Market. Across all regions, the number of plans available increased to 145,500 in 2025 - varying from about 7,200 (Jemena) to 26,700 (Ausgrid) in a single region!
The ACCC, in its summary, states that customers "face complexity from the number and variety of plans in the market and confusing plan naming practices". Given the proliferation of plans this appears to be the understatement of 2025.
