With open banking currently being rolled out in Australia, next up on the government's agenda is open energy. Driven by the Consumer Data Right legislation, open energy will give you control over your energy data and make it easier than ever to find better deals and switch energy plans. Here is what you need to know about the new data rules.
The market for energy in Australia is complex, and there are lots of organisations out there that hold data about the way you use energy. Open energy will give you access to this data for the first time.
Right now, even if you're the shrewdest Australian, it's difficult to work out the best energy plan for you as this can depend on a number of things, such as how much energy you use, when you use it, what type of meter is in your house and whether you have solar panels installed.
Even with your most recent energy bill to hand, it is hard to estimate your energy usage for the whole year as this can change drastically from season to season.
The data made available through open energy will change this by giving you a full picture of your energy usage, which you can share with comparison sites, energy retailers and other authorised organisations to help you find better deals. The whole scheme will also be "opt-in", meaning you have full control over who you share your data with and how it is used.
It does look likely that we will see open energy become a reality at some point in 2020.
The Consumer Data Right (CDR) legislation that sits behind open energy passed through Parliament in August 2019.
The Treasury and the ACCC are busy implementing the first instance of CDR, which will lead to open banking, but they have stated that energy will be next.
The timeline is still not completely clear with the ACCC saying it will formalise this before the end of 2019. It does look likely that we will see open energy become a reality at some point in 2020.
The exact data types are still being finalised, but an initial consultation paper from the Treasury has suggested six types of data that it thinks should be made available under open energy:
The companies that hold these datasets will be required to share the data points above at some point in the future. There will be an ongoing accreditation process for companies that receive the data made available under open energy to ensure that all parties will adhere to the security standards set by the government.
Accessing and sharing the data made available under open energy in Australia will be free.
The big goal for open energy is to make finding the better energy plans for you easier than ever. If this is achieved, then the hope is that this will lead to increased competition in the energy sector as more people switch to the best-priced plans on the market.
As a working example, let's imagine that open energy is live and Finder is an accredited data recipient. In this world, you would be able to send us your relevant energy data including your usage and billing data. This, combined with the accurate product data also available under open energy, would allow us to help you find a better deal on your energy plan and give you an estimation for how much money this could save you across the next year. In this scenario, the hard work is done for you so choosing a great deal that saves you money would be as simple as a few clicks.
The Data Standards Body has launched the Energy Advisory Committee to advise on the next phase of open energy. The Committee has 14 members from a variety of backgrounds who will provide expert advice to the Data Standards Body on the best way to encourage data sharing in the energy sector. The members of the Energy Advisory Committee announced in November 2019 are:
The Advisory Committee will meet monthly, with locations varying between Sydney and Melbourne. Meeting
minutes will be published on the Data Standards Body website.
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