EWON welcomes fairer pricing for embedded network customers

EWON welcomes the NSW Government's plan to reduce energy bills and enhance protections for customers in embedded networks, building on our ongoing policy influence in this area.  

The initiative announced this month aims to ensure fairer pricing and better consumer rights for over 95,000 NSW households living in embedded networks.  

Embedded networks often provide energy in apartments, residential complexes, strata schemes, retirement villages and shopping centres. They can also provide electricity, gas, hot water, chilled water, or air conditioning.

EWON managed 890 complaints from embedded network customers in FY25, a 36% increase on the year before.

“Ensuring residents who live in embedded networks have access to consumer protection and energy rebates and concessions has been a focus for EWON for more than a decade, said Energy & Water Ombudsman, Janine Young. “We’ve worked relentlessly to drive these changes.”

“The government’s action plan builds on several EWON recommendations, publications and submissions demonstrating our ongoing commitment to improving affordability for customers, including how customers are charged for hot water in embedded networks.”

In addition to fairer pricing, the plan includes:

• expanding access to free and independent dispute resolution through the Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW to include hot water and centralised air conditioning

• access to national and NSW energy rebates and payment support programs for customers struggling to pay their energy bills

• providing customers with information about embedded network arrangements before purchasing or leasing a property that is in an embedded network

• preventing customers from being locked into lengthy energy supply contracts.

EWON’s expertise in understanding the issues that embedded network customers experience began in 2013 when EWON’s jurisdiction expanded to accept complaints from customers of exempt sellers, followed by NSW embedded network retailers and operators from 2018.

EWON called for the following regulatory changes in the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART) final report on the future of embedded networks, released in 2024:

• appropriate price caps for embedded network customers 

• transparency of pricing 

• for hot and chilled water embedded network customers to be billed for the underlying fuel source, with essential energy market consumer protections applied.

In September 2025, EWON’s Policy team was approached by NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to comment on regulatory changes in response to IPART’s review and the NSW Government’s Consumer Energy Strategy Action 26, which the action plan delivers on.

“We’re hoping to see not only a decrease in embedded network complaints next year once the action plan is fully rolled out, but energy affordability to increase for customers who need support,” Ms Young said.

Implementation of the plan has commenced and will continue over the coming months, with a full rollout expected by mid-2026. The Government will introduce legislation this year to enact key reforms including the price cap.
 

Timeline of EWON’s influence:

2016: EWON report on embedded networks – Rising Inequality in the Energy Market: Safeguarding Consumer Protection. 

2018: Jurisdiction expanded when the Australian Energy Regulator updated the Exempt Selling Guideline and Network Exemption Guideline to require membership of ombudsman schemes. 

2019: Australian Energy Market Commission publishes a final report that proposes a package of law and rule changes to update the regulatory frameworks for embedded networks (progress of reform stalls at federal level). 

2021: EWON publishes Spotlight on Hot water embedded networks and Spotlight on Embedded networks – it's time for change. 

2022-2023: NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety Inquiry into embedded networks in New South Wales. 

2023: IPART publishes recommendations as part of its future of embedded networks in NSW review. 

2024: NSW Consumer Energy Strategy – commits to actions to address consumer protection gaps for embedded network customers. 

2025: NSW Embedded Network Action Plan and Ministerial Statement of Expectations.