Introducing the electricity industry

Prior to 1990, the electricity supply industry was originally dominated by state governments responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. Since then the industry have been widely privatized and the National Electricity Market (NEM) was formed in 1998 with the aim to promote competition and efficiency in the electricity industry in the interest of electricity consumers. Participating jurisdictions include Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania.

The deregulation of the electricity industry results in competition by introducing Full Retail Contestability (FRC) to allow businesses and households to choose the retailer of their choice.

Victoria – introduced on 13 January 2002
NSW – introduced on 1 January 2002
South Australia – introduced on 1 January 2003
ACT – introduced on 1 July 2003
Queensland – to be introduced in mid-2007
Tasmania – contestability for large customer in mid-2006