Notified prices

Customers, who have not elected to enter into an individual market contract with an electricity retailer, pay the regulated retail tariff (or notified electricity price) for their electricity. Domestic customers who are currently on a market contract with an electricity retailer can choose to return to the notified prices when the contract ends.

Notified prices are determined by the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA), the state's independent economic regulator.  The QCA has been delegated this responsibility by the Minister responsible for Energy, who has the authority to do so under section 90 of the Electricity Act 1994. Generally, the notified prices are in the form of a schedule of tariffs, which contains prices and conditions for the application of the tariffs. 

The mechanism for determining the indexation applied to the notified prices each year is the Benchmark Retail Cost Index (BRCI). The BRCI ensures changes in electricity prices reflect changes in costs of electricity supply, rather than prices in the economy as a whole. The QCA determines the BRCI each financial year.

Electricity Retail Prices for Non-market Customers from 1 July 2009

In June 2009, the QCA announced that the notified prices for the 2009-10 tariff year would increase by 11.82 per cent.

The QCA's Draft Decision of 2 December 2008 estimated an increase of 13.63 per cent. However, notified prices have actually increased by 15.67 per cent from what customers were paying. The difference has taken into account the amended price increase for 2008-09 (detailed below), which was announced on 5 June 2009, plus the 2009-10 price increase of 11.82 per cent. 

On 5 June 2009, the QCA recalculated and announced its Remade Final Decision for the 2008-09 Benchmark Retail Cost Index (BRCI) - a cost of supply index, and stated the change in the BRCI between 2007-08 and 2008-09 as 9.06 per cent. This Remade Decision was required as a result of the Judicial Review action sought by retailers AGL Energy Ltd and Origin Energy Retail Ltd in relation to the QCA's original decision for 2008-09 notified prices.

Download the Regulated Electricity Retail Prices for Non-market Customers from 1 July 2009 (PDF - 339KB)

Download the Residential Regulated Retail Tariff Price Increases Across Australia (2007-08 to 2009-10) (PDF - 98KB)

Full retail competition

The introduction of full retail competition (FRC) from 1 July 2007, gave Queensland electricity customers the option to choose who they purchase their electricity from. Customers should shop around to find the deal that best suits their needs. Find out more about FRC.