Regulating prices for consumers, with consumers

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of NSW (IPART) engaged an external consultant to independently review IPART’s customer engagement practices. In the review it was found that there have been considerable barriers for consumer stakeholders to contribute to electricity and water pricing determinations. PIAC submitted that consumer advocates often lack access to the necessary resources and technical expertise to participate in many of IPARTs reviews, making it very difficult to be meaningfully engaged across these processes. As such, PIAC contends that many valuable consumer opinions and experiences do not get included in many of IPARTs determination processes.