What to do today
1. Call your retailer (the company named on the bill) now. Say: "I am experiencing payment difficulties and I want a payment plan, and I want to be assessed for your hardship program." Once a residential customer tells the retailer this by phone or in writing, the retailer must offer and apply a payment plan (National Energy Retail Law s 50). Write down the date, time, the name of the person and any reference number. Offer an amount you can actually afford each fortnight. You do not have to accept a plan you cannot keep.
2. If a disconnection date is set, or you are already off, call your energy ombudsman the same day. It is free. Tell them you are facing disconnection and cannot pay. A retailer must not disconnect you while a complaint to the ombudsman about the reason for the disconnection is unresolved (National Energy Retail Rules r 116(1)(c)).
| Where you live | Who handles energy complaints | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Energy and Water Ombudsman NSW | 1800 246 545 |
| Victoria | Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria | 1800 500 509 |
| Queensland | Energy and Water Ombudsman Queensland | 1800 662 837 |
| South Australia | Energy and Water Ombudsman SA | 1800 665 565 |
| Tasmania | Energy Ombudsman Tasmania | 1800 001 170 |
| ACT | ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal | 02 6207 1740 |
| Western Australia | Energy and Water Ombudsman WA | 1800 754 004 |
| Northern Territory | Ombudsman NT | 1800 806 380 |
Contacts are from the Energy Made Easy useful contacts page.
3. If anyone at home uses life support equipment, tell the retailer in the same call. That includes equipment such as an oxygen concentrator, a kidney dialysis machine or a ventilator for life support (r 3). The retailer must register your home straight away and send you a medical confirmation form within 5 business days, and you then have at least 50 business days to return it signed by a doctor (r 124, r 124A). A retailer must not disconnect a home registered as having life support equipment (r 116(1)(a)).
4. Get free help with the plan. The National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007) connects you to a free financial counsellor who can call the retailer with you.
Cost and wait: calling the retailer and the ombudsman is free. If you have already been disconnected, the retailer may charge a reconnection fee. It must tell you about any reconnection charge in its disconnection warning notice (r 110(2)(e)).
This is legal information about energy disconnection rules in Australia, not legal advice.
Which rules apply where you live
The National Energy Retail Law and the National Energy Retail Rules apply in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. The rules themselves say they do not apply in Victoria, Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Most of this page is about those five places. Victoria is covered below. Western Australia and the Northern Territory have their own rules, so ring the ombudsman in the table above for the steps there.
The steps a retailer must take before cutting you off
For a residential customer who has not paid a bill, the retailer can only arrange disconnection after all of these have happened (r 111(1)):
You did not pay by the pay-by date, and you have not agreed to an offer to pay by instalments (or you agreed and then did not keep to it). On a standard contract, the pay-by date must be at least 13 business days after the bill was sent (r 26).
The retailer sent you a reminder notice. It can be sent no earlier than the business day after the pay-by date, and it must give you at least 6 business days from its date of issue to pay (r 108, r 109).
The retailer then sent a disconnection warning notice, no earlier than the business day after the reminder period ends. It must give you at least another 6 business days, tell you about the energy ombudsman and how to contact it, and tell you how reconnection works and whether there is a charge (r 108, r 110).
After the warning notice, the retailer used its best endeavours to contact you in person, by phone or electronically. A missed call or an email only counts if you acknowledge the message (r 111(1)(e)).
You refused or failed to take any reasonable action towards settling the debt (r 111(1)(f)).
Once you have told them you are in payment difficulty, the bar is higher. The retailer must not disconnect you unless it has offered you 2 payment plans in the previous 12 months and you did not agree to them, or the plans were cancelled because payments were not made (r 111(2)). Disconnecting a hardship customer for not being able to pay should be a last resort (National Energy Retail Law s 47).
When they cannot disconnect you at all
Even when all those steps are done, the retailer must not arrange a disconnection (r 116(1)):
- while you are a hardship or residential customer keeping to a payment plan
- while a complaint about the reason for the disconnection is unresolved with the retailer or the energy ombudsman
- if you owe less than the minimum amount approved by the Australian Energy Regulator and have agreed to repay it. That amount is $500 (including GST) from 1 July 2026 (AER final decision, August 2025)
- for unpaid charges that are not for energy, such as a separate product on the same bill
- during a declared extreme weather event
- during a protected period: before 8am or after 3pm on a business day, on a Friday, on the day before a public holiday, on a weekend or public holiday, or from 20 to 31 December (r 108)
From 30 March 2027 the $500 minimum will protect every customer, whether or not they have agreed to repay (AEMC rule determination, 10 September 2026).
The hardship program
Every retailer must have a customer hardship policy approved by the Australian Energy Regulator. It must include flexible ways to pay (including a payment plan and Centrepay), help to find government concessions and financial counselling, and a review of whether your plan is the right one for you (National Energy Retail Law ss 43, 44). A payment plan for a hardship customer must be set having regard to what you can afford, what you owe and how much energy you are expected to use over the next 12 months (r 72). The retailer must also tell you about government rebates, concessions and relief schemes (r 33(3)).
The AER Customer Hardship Policy Guideline sets the standard statements every retailer's hardship policy has to include. Ask the retailer to send you its policy. It must give a hardship customer a copy free on request (r 71).
If you have already been disconnected
Contact the retailer within 10 business days of the disconnection. If within that time you pay the debt or make arrangements the retailer is satisfied with (such as agreeing a payment plan), ask to be reconnected, and pay any reconnection charge, the retailer must ask the distributor (the network company) to reconnect you (r 121). The distributor then has to reconnect you in line with its service standards (r 122). Call your ombudsman the same day if the retailer will not agree to a plan you can afford.
Victoria
Victoria has its own rules in the Essential Services Commission's Energy Retail Code of Practice (version 7, from 1 October 2026). If you are behind on a bill you are entitled to tailored assistance, including repaying the arrears over up to two years and, if you cannot cover your ongoing use, at least six months with arrears repayments on hold while you work on lowering your costs (clause 128). A retailer cannot disconnect you if your total arrears are less than $1,000, and only as a last resort after it has met its assistance obligations and clearly told you what help is available (clause 187). The Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria (above) handles disputes.
Emergency help with the bill
In NSW, the Energy Accounts Payment Assistance (EAPA) scheme pays a credit straight onto your electricity or gas account if a short-term crisis means you cannot pay, and a disconnection letter counts as a crisis. You apply online through Service NSW or through a community EAPA provider, and the amount depends on your assessment. In Victoria, the Utility Relief Grant can pay up to $650 per utility in a two-year period ($1,300 if your home only uses one energy source, such as electricity only). You ask your retailer for the application form.
Other states have their own concessions and emergency payments. Ask the retailer, which must tell you about them (r 33(3)), or check the Energy Made Easy page on trouble paying your bill.
Worked example (NSW, 2026)
Priya is on a standard contract. Her retailer sends her electricity bill on Wednesday 14 October 2026 with a pay-by date of Monday 2 November 2026, which is 13 business days later. She cannot pay it.
The earliest a reminder notice can be issued is Tuesday 3 November, the next business day. Counting 6 business days from that date (4, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11 November), the reminder period ends no earlier than Wednesday 11 November.
The earliest the disconnection warning notice can be issued is Thursday 12 November. Counting 6 business days (13, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 November), the warning period ends no earlier than Friday 20 November.
Fridays and weekends are protected, so the earliest lawful disconnection is Monday 23 November 2026, between 8am and 3pm, and only if the retailer has also tried to reach her after the warning notice.
On Thursday 12 November Priya rings the retailer, says she is in payment difficulty, and agrees to a fortnightly plan she can afford. While she keeps to it, the retailer cannot disconnect her. She also applies for EAPA, and the credit goes straight onto her account.
If the bill is wrong, or a debt collector is calling
If you think the bill itself is wrong (an estimated read, the wrong tariff, a missing concession), raise a complaint about the bill as well. While that complaint is unresolved the retailer cannot disconnect you for that reason. See Energy bill dispute (electricity or gas) for how to dispute it.
If an old energy debt from a closed account has been passed to a debt collector, the disconnection rules no longer help, but debt collection rules do. See Debt collector harassment.