Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 (Qld)

Queensland Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Act No. 26 of 2015

Queensland Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Contents Part 1 1 2 Part 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Part 3 16 Page Preliminary Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Amendment of Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Amendment of s 3 (Main purpose of Act). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Amendment of s 6B (Who is an eligible customer). . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Insertion of new ss 6C and 6D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6C Who is an eligible non-residential energy customer . . 5 6D Who is a relevant energy customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Amendment of s 11 (Functions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Amendment of s 12 (Restrictions on functions—energy entities). 6 Amendment of s 18 (Disputes relating to energy entities that may be referred to energy and water ombudsman) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Insertion of new s 18B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 18B Dispute may involve complaint about interference with privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Insertion of new s 25B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 25B Disclosure of customer identifying information. . . . . . 7 Amendment of s 64 (Scheme participation—energy entities) . . . 8 Amendment of s 78 (Reports and observations on energy and water ombudsman’s initiative) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Amendment of s 79 (Privacy) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Amendment of schedule (Dictionary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Amendment of National Energy Retail Law (Queensland)Act 2014 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Contents 17 Amendment of Schedule (Modification of application of National Energy Retail Law) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Page 2 2015 Act No. 26

Queensland Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Act No. 26 of 2015 An Act to amend the Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 and the National Energy Retail Law (Queensland) Act 2014 for particular purposes [Assented to 20 November 2015]

Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Part 1 Preliminary [s 1] The Parliament of Queensland enacts— Part 1 Preliminary 1 Short title This Act may be cited as the Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 . 2 Commencement (1) This Act, other than sections 7 and 10, commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation. (2) Sections 7 and 10 commence on 1 January 2016. Part 2 Amendment of Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 3 Act amended This part amends the EnergyandWaterOmbudsmanAct2006. 4 Amendment of s 3 (Main purpose of Act) Section 3(a), ‘small customers (energy)’— omit, insert — relevant energy customers Page 4 2015 Act No. 26

Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Part 2 Amendment of Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 [s 5] 5 Amendment of s 6B (Who is an eligible customer ) Section 6B, ‘small customer (energy)’— omit, insert — relevant energy customer 6 Insertion of new ss 6C and 6D After section 6B— insert — 6C Who is an eligible non-residential energy customer (1) An eligible non-residential energy customer is a business customer who consumes electricity at business premises— (a) at or above the upper consumption threshold; and (b) at not more than 160MWh a year. (2) However, an eligible non-residential energy customer does not include the State or the Commonwealth. (3) In this section— business customer see the NERL (Qld). business premises see the NERL (Qld). upper consumption threshold means the upper consumption level under the NERL (Qld). 6D Who is a relevant energy customer A relevant energy customer is— (a) a small customer (energy); or (b) an eligible non-residential energy customer. 2015 Act No. 26 Page 5

Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Part 2 Amendment of Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 [s 7] 7 Amendment of s 11 (Functions) (1) Section 11(1)(e)— renumber as section 11(1)(f). (2) Section 11(1)— insert — (e) subject to this Act, and to recognition given by a notice under the PrivacyAct, section 35A, to receive, investigate, facilitate the resolution of, make decisions and recommendations for, and report on complaints about acts or practices of scheme participants that may be an interference with the privacy of an individual within the meaning of section 13(1) or (2) of that Act; and 8 Amendment of s 12 (Restrictions on functions—energy entities) Section 12(1)(c), ‘small customers (energy)’— omit, insert — relevant energy customers 9 Amendment of s 18 (Disputes relating to energy entities that may be referred to energy and water ombudsman) Section 18(1)(a) and (5), ‘small customer (energy)’— omit, insert — relevant energy customer 10 Insertion of new s 18B After section 18A— insert — Page 6 2015 Act No. 26

Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Part 2 Amendment of Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 [s 11] 18B Dispute may involve complaint about interference with privacy A dispute about the performance of a utility entity’s function as mentioned in section 18(1)(a) or 18A(1) may involve a complaint that an act or practice relevant to the entity’s performance of the function was or is an interference with the privacy of an individual within the meaning of the PrivacyAct, section 13(1) or (2). 11 Insertion of new s 25B Part 3— insert — 25B Disclosure of customer identifying information (1) The making of a dispute referral by an eligible customer is, of itself, taken to be agreement by the customer to the customer’s customer identifying information being disclosed to a utility entity to the extent reasonably necessary for invoicing the utility entity for a user-pays fee. Example — disclosing the customer account number of an eligible customer to the utility entity to allow the entity to confirm that the account is held with the entity (2) Without limiting subsection (1)— (a) the making of a dispute referral by an eligible customer includes— (i) the purported or proposed making of a dispute referral by an eligible customer if the energy and water ombudsman advises the customer that, under section 19A(1)(c), the customer can not make the dispute referral; and 2015 Act No. 26 Page 7

Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Part 2 Amendment of Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 [s 12] (ii) the making of a dispute referral by an eligible customer even though the energy and water ombudsman refuses, under section 22(1)(d), to investigate the dispute referral or to continue the investigation of the dispute referral; and (b) for an eligible customer who is an individual, this section applies for any IPP under the Information Privacy Act 2009 . 12 Amendment of s 64 (Scheme participation—energy entities) Section 64(1) and (2), ‘small customer (energy)’— omit, insert — relevant energy customer 13 Amendment of s 78 (Reports and observations on energy and water ombudsman’s initiative) Section 78(1)— insert — (g) the Information Commissioner within the meaning of the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 (Cwlth). 14 Amendment of s 79 (Privacy) Section 79— insert — (7) Without limiting section 25B, agreement of an eligible customer under the section may also have effect as consent under subsection (3)(b). Page 8 2015 Act No. 26

Energy and Water Ombudsman Amendment Act 2015 Part 3 Amendment of National Energy Retail Law (Queensland) Act 2014 [s 15] 15 Amendment of schedule (Dictionary) (1) Schedule— insert — eligible non-residential energy customer see section 6C. Privacy Act means the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth). relevant energy customer see section 6D. (2) Schedule, definition non-entity party , paragraph (a), ‘small customer (energy)’— omit, insert — relevant energy customer Part 3 Amendment of National Energy Retail Law (Queensland) Act 2014 16 Act amended This part amends the NationalEnergyRetailLaw(Queensland) Act 2014. 17 Amendment of Schedule (Modification of application of National Energy Retail Law) Schedule, item 15, inserted section 22A(3)(b), ‘section 89B’— omit, insert — section 89E 2015 Act No. 26 © State of Queensland 2015 Authorised by the Parliamentary Counsel Page 9