The purpose of compliance reviews

Compliance reviews are a key part of the commission's proactive compliance program to promote the long-term interests of Victorian energy consumers. 

The commission can direct licensed energy businesses to undertake compliance reviews. A compliance review is a tailored assessment of an energy business' compliance with particular obligations in Victoria's energy rules and laws.

Compliance reviews are an integral part of the commission's strategy to ensure consumers are protected under Victoria's energy regulations. They provide an impartial and objective assessment of how energy businesses are complying with certain rules. Energy business' obligations include those in legislation, the commission's codes of practice and licence conditions.

Independent reviewers

The energy business must nominate an independent reviewer to conduct the compliance review. The reviewer must be approved by the commission before the compliance review commences. 

Compliance reviews give us flexibility to approve the appointment of a reviewer with the required skills and experience relevant to the review. In some cases, the commission may approve a legal or compliance firm, rather than an audit firm.

On 22 November 2023 we released our draft decision on the minimum feed-in tariffs to apply from 1 July 2024. 

Submissions on our draft decision were due on 22 December 2023. We will review feedback on our draft decision paper and release our final decision by 28 February 2024.

The table below shows the draft minimum feed-in tariffs for 2024-25. Retailers can offer solar customers a flat feed-in tariff and/or time-varying feed-in tariffs for electricity exported to the grid.

The inputs to the minimum feed-in tariff model will be updated with the latest information available for our final decision in February 2024.

Next steps

Feedback on our draft decision paper closed on Friday 22 December 2023.

We will review feedback on our draft decision paper and release our final decision by 28 February 2024.

Why do the minimum feed-in tariffs change?

The video below provides a general explanation of what factors might impact changes in the minimum feed-in tariffs.

We are responsible for setting and annually reviewing the Victorian Default Offer prices. The default offer is designed to be a simple, trusted and reasonably priced electricity option that safeguards customers that are unwilling or unable to engage in the market.

We are consulting on the Victorian Default Offer prices to apply from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

We released a request for comment paper in early November 2023. Submission on our request for comment paper closed on 14 December 2023.

How we calculate the Victorian Default Offer

We are required to base the Victorian Default Offer on the efficient costs of the sale of electricity by a retailer. In past reviews we have done so by considering:

• wholesale electricity costs – based on the price of electricity costs in the futures market
• network costs – taken directly from tariffs approved by the Australian Energy Regulator
• environmental costs – taken from public information on the costs of environmental initiatives
• retail costs – based on the customer weighted average of retailers' actual costs
• other costs – taken directly from published reports from industry bodies
• network losses – taken from the Australian Energy Market Operator and electricity distributors
• retail operating margin – based on a benchmark from comparable regulatory decisions.

Next steps

We will release our draft decision for stakeholder consideration in March 2024.

We also plan to hold a public forum (online) in March (or April). We will update this page with more information on the forum including how to register, closer to the event.

After considering submissions on our draft decision we will release our final decision in May 2024.

On 26 October 2023, Ryan Corner Development Pty Ltd (ACN 130 542 915) applied for a licence to generate electricity for supply or sale and to sell electricity under section 18 of the Electricity Industry Act 2000.

Submissions closed 5pm Wednesday 23 November 2023. We did not receive any submissions. 

We granted the licence on 15 December 2023.

On 25 October 2023, Hawkesdale Asset Pty Ltd (ACN 643 793 711) applied for a licence to generate electricity for supply or sale and to sell electricity under section 18 of the Electricity Industry Act 2000.

We may grant or refuse to grant the application for any reason we consider appropriate having regard to our objectives under the Electricity Industry Act 2000 (Vic) and the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 (Vic).

We sought feedback from stakeholders on Hawkesdale Asset Pty Ltd’s electricity generation licence application.

Submissions closed 5pm Wednesday 22 November 2023.

On 30 October 2023, Ferguson Wind Farm Pty Ltd (ACN 608 631 321) applied for a licence to generate electricity for supply or sale, and to sell electricity under section 18 of the Electricity Industry Act 2000 (Vic).

We may grant or refuse to grant the application for any reason we consider appropriate having regard to our objectives under the Electricity Industry Act 2000 (Vic) and the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 (Vic).

Have your say

We are seeking feedback from stakeholders on Ferguson Wind Farm Pty Ltd’s electricity generation licence application.

You can respond by uploading a submission or provide comments via email or mail.

• Email: licences@esc.vic.gov.au 
• Mail: Essential Services Commission, Level 8, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Submissions close 5pm Monday 27 November 2023.