ESIA Submission - Consumer Data Right rule and standards - 26 May 2021
Of major concern, the current public consultation by The Treasury, Australian Government has taken a different direction to the previous consultation on the issue of consumer data rights (CDR) undertaken by the ACCC: Energy Rules Framework Consultation paper, July 2020. The Consumer Data Right (CDR) is going to be introduced by the Australian Government ‘as part of its commitment to giving Australians greater control over their data.’ The currently proposed model will place the retailer as gatekeeper of data. This will be a step backwards for customers as it will not prioritise CDR. This will stymy transformation of the energy sector.
The roles of the retailer and AEMO as proposed will have significant negative impacts on the energy efficiency sector:
- It will make it more complicated for industry to seek customer data with the retailers as gatekeepers.
- It will make it more difficult to unlock energy efficiency upgrade opportunities.
- Increased costs due to compromised data access can negate projects from proceeding.
- Billions of dollars of investment can be stymied with poor access to customer data.
- The energy sector will be left behind other industries that have transformed because of better access to customer data.
The ESIA recommends that the model be adjusted so AEMO provides data to Accredited Data Recipients (ADRs). This will be in keeping with the CDR four key principles and will be in line with the originally proposed model 1, which was the preferred option, in the ACCC paper.
(ESIA submission PDF)
