In Western Australia, customers living or working in an Embedded Network (EN) — such as in shopping centres, apartments, or business parks — don’t have the option to choose their electricity retailer.
That’s because WA’s electricity market doesn’t currently allow most customers to switch providers, even outside of an Embedded Network. Only very large customers are “contestable,” meaning they can shop around for a better deal. Everyone else must stay with their assigned supplier, usually Synergy in the metro area or Horizon Power in regional areas.
Some people have asked whether future rule changes will change that. But at this stage, the WA market doesn’t have the systems or rules needed to support retail competition in Embedded Networks — and the upcoming guidelines don’t change that either.
There was even a suggestion in the voluntary Embedded Network Guidelines that a tenant could, if they really wanted to, pay to have their tenancy re-wired to connect directly to the grid. But that would be costly, complicated, and would usually have to be reversed when the lease ends.
In contrast, other states like Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland do have frameworks that allow some customers in Embedded Networks to switch retailers — but WA’s market simply isn’t set up that way.
Read our latest blog to learn more about how the WA system works and what the future may look like:
[Read the full blog here]