Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Bill 2018

From Bill homepage: Amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to: prohibit certain conduct in electricity retail, contract and wholesale markets, broadly relating to retail pricing, financial contract market liquidity and conduct in wholesale spot markets; provide remedies which the ACCC may use if it reasonably believes a corporation has engaged, or is engaging, in prohibited conduct in the electricity sector; enable the Treasurer, following the receipt of a prohibited conduct recommendation from the ACCC, to issue a written order to a corporation or another body to make offers to enter into electricity financial contracts with third party entities; enable the Treasurer, following the receipt of a prohibited conduct recommendation from the ACCC, to apply to the Federal Court (the court) for a divestiture order and for the court to make related orders that a corporation or another body corporate dispose of interests in securities or assets that are part of its electricity business; set out the notice and recommendation procedures that must be followed before an order can be made in respect of a corporation or another body corporate; confer new compulsory information gathering powers on the Australian Energy Regulator (AER); allow the AER to share information with other agencies; and facilitate the conferral of functions related to the regulation of retail electricity prices on the AER.

Submissions to the Review were due by 25 January 2019. Thirty submissions were received and can be viewed on the Committee website.