In effect
The Queensland Government introduced the National Energy Customer Framework (NECF) to Queensland on 1 July 2015. On this day, the Electricity Distribution Network Code and the Gas Distribution Network Code (the Distribution Codes) replaced the Electricity Industry Code and the Gas Industry Code (the Industry Codes). The QCA is responsible for administering and enforcing the Distribution Codes.
What the AER regulates
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) now regulates most of the retail matters that the Industry Codes used to cover. Retailers’ obligations are outlined in the National Energy Retail Law (NERL) and the National Energy Retail Rules (NERR). The NERL is contained in the schedule to the NERL (South Australia) Act 2011, and a version of the NERL as it applies in Queensland is available on the Queensland Legislation website. The NERR are published on the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) website.
What the QCA regulates
When introducing the NECF in Queensland, the Queensland Government made additional provisions that apply to retailers operating in Queensland. The additional provisions are set out in the NERL (Queensland) Act 2014 and the NERL (Queensland) Regulation 2014 and are summarised in the derogations document available at the bottom of this page. The NERL (Queensland) Act also provides (in section 4) that the NERL, set out in the schedule to the South Australian Act, applies in Queensland.
The QCA is responsible for regulating most of the derogations. In doing so, we have the same monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers as the AER has under the NERL. Our enforcement guidelines include an outline of these powers and obligations, and details of our enforcement activities (for the Distribution Codes and derogations) are available on our enforcement actions page.
More information
More information on the NECF is available on the NECF and Guide to the NECF pages of the AEMC website. More information on the Queensland Government’s implementation of the NECF in Queensland is available in the explanatory notes to the NERL (Queensland) Bill 2014. Details of the nomination of regulators for the derogations is available in the NERL (Queensland) Regulation.