2014 was the first year of the operation of the merged entity Synergy, and the ERA's first review of the effectiveness of the Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation (EGRC) regulation scheme. Our review focused on fundamental design issues of the scheme which needed to be addressed as soon as possible to ensure the EGRC scheme was effective.
Consistent with the Government’s stated intentions when introducing the EGRC scheme, the ERA took the view that its primary purpose was to mitigate the increased potential for exercising market power, which arises due to the merger of Verve and Synergy, by ensuring a level playing field for competitors and new entrants, in order to facilitate competition.
Our discussion paper was published in November 2014 and we received four submissions from the public. Our review report was delivered to the Minister for Energy where it was tabled in Parliament on 25 June 2015 and published on our website.
