Energy policy
Mr HALSE (Ringwood) (17:18): (6209) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide an update to our Ringwood community regarding the actions the Andrews Labor government is taking to ease household spending pressure, to strengthen protections for energy customers and to hold big energy companies accountable in 2022. Members of my electorate were delighted by the news that as of 1 January 2022 unsolicited door-to-door sales and cold calling by energy retailers is now banned. Retailers seeking to save or win back customers attempting to switch providers are also prohibited from doing so. We want energy retailers to provide fair offers to customers up-front so they do not have to change providers.
I was also delighted to share the news with my community that the Victorian default offer for electricity has been cut by 5 per cent from 1 January. As members of the government know and will be familiar with, the Victorian default offer provides a simple to understand, reliable energy offer that consumers can trust. It is estimated that this 5 per cent cut means that the average household on the VDO will save $70 a year, and for small business customers it is $336. I look forward to the minister’s update.