Australian Government slaps power companies with new regulations to keep your bill down, will it work? – techAU

The Federal Government has unveiled new regulations to shield Australian households from unpredictable energy price surges, limiting retailers to just one price increase per year from July 1, 2026.

In a significant shake-up of the retail energy market, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the new rules designed to bring greater stability and fairness to household budgets. The changes mean that after signing up to a market offer, your electricity retailer won’t be able to jack up the rates for at least 12 months, providing more certainty for consumers.

This initiative is backed by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), which has introduced a suite of reforms for 2025 aimed at protecting consumers from price gouging. ^{The AEMC’s changes will also see a ban on excessive late payment fees and other unfair charges, particularly for vulnerable customers.}

The elimination of fees may not significantly impact your overall energy costs, despite that, it would be a welcome change to click the ‘Pay now’ button and have a credit/debit card transaction without additional feels.

As is often the case, the intention of the legislation may be well meaning, however the reality and outcome may be quite different. Let’s take the single price rise per year, in theory, this sounds consumer-friendly, providing certainty over the costs of power for any given year. To accommodate this change, energy prices are likely to increase prices by more, earlier, to ensure they cover their costs over the subsequent twelve months, while exisitng configurations could have seen the customer pay less for a number of months.

This announcement comes at a time when many households will be earning less from their solar energy generation sent back to the energy retailers. Personally, my Solar feed-in-tarrif is dropping from 3.3c/kWh to just 1c/kWh.. on July 1st, 2025.

Those who invested in solar, did so to reduce their energy bill. A lower payment for energy sent back to the grid, means households will pay more for power, likely far more impactful than any of the changes announced today.

What I’d love to see is that a kWh of energy produced by a home, be valued appropriately, as producing that same kWh at a power station is clearly much more expensive, meaning the excess solar is a benefit to the energy provider.

Those looking to shrink their bills will now have to look towards another investment, a home storage battery to store excess energy from the sun and use it locally, reducing or in a perfect world, eliminating usage from the grid.

Key Changes Coming for Energy Customers

Annual Price Lock-In
From July 1, 2026, energy retailers will be restricted from increasing prices on their market retail contracts more than once in any 12-month period. This is designed to give customers peace of mind and predictability in their energy spending.

Ban on Unfair Fees
The new rules will prohibit retailers from charging excessive fees for late payments. Additionally, certain fees will be banned altogether for customers experiencing financial hardship, ensuring those most in need are not further penalised.

Better Deals for Hardship Customers
Retailers will be placed under a stronger obligation to ensure customers in their hardship programs are on their best possible deal. This aims to prevent vulnerable households from languishing on expensive, legacy plans.

This move to regulate price increases is part of the government’s broader climate and energy agenda, which targets a 42.7% reduction in emissions by 2030. By providing more stability in the retail market, the government hopes to build consumer confidence as the nation continues its transition to renewable energy sources.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen acknowledged the pressure on households, stating that the reforms are designed to get a “best deal” for consumers.

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