Disconnections for non-payment
This dashboard shows monthly data on electricity disconnections for non-payment, including the number of disconnections, their duration, and how often individual customers were disconnected.
- Consumer
- Switching
- Retail
About disconnections
Electricity retailers may only disconnect a customer for non-payment, after complying with all processes required under the Consumer Care Obligations.
This dashboard shows the number of domestic and small business customers electrically disconnected each month due to non-payment. You can filter results by type of electricity plan (prepay or postpay) and date range.
There are two main types of electricity plans:
- Prepay: customers pay for electricity before using it. If their credit balance reaches zero (or any approved arrears limit), their electricity supply will be disconnected.
- Postpay: customers are billed after using electricity, typically monthly.
Prepay and postpay plans have different attributes that may suit different customers. Postpay allows customers to accrue expenses over the billing period (usually a month) and pay the accrued amount in arrears. Prepay allows customers to make smaller payments in advance, giving greater control over spending and helping avoid debt. Many retailers require a credit check for postpay plans, but not all do. For customers with poor credit histories, prepay may be the most practical option.
Note, some retailers offer pay-ahead products (like Powershop’s powerpacks) where customers can buy electricity in advance at discounted rates. Customers are not disconnected when their pay-ahead product is used up. Instead, they continue to be supplied and are charged at a standard rate. For the purpose of this dashboard, these customers are classified as postpay.
How to read the disconnections dashboard
Each count in the 'Number of disconnections' tab represents a disconnection event. Some customers, particularly those on prepay, may be disconnected multiple times in a month.
The 'Number of times disconnected' tab shows the number of times a single customer is disconnected each month. The 'Disconnected duration' tab shows how long each disconnection lasts.
Consumer Care Obligations
Retailers are required to follow the Consumer Care Obligations (effective 1 April 2025) to help customers stay connected and manage their power bills. Before disconnecting a residential consumer for non-payment, retailers must meet specific obligations:
- Prepay customers: retailers must notify their customer when their credit balance falls below an estimated two days of standard usage
- Postpay customers: retailers must work with their customers to keep their electricity connected and provide them with support, including offering advice on energy use, suitable pricing plans or payment options.
Medically dependent customers on postpay plans cannot be electrically disconnected. (Effective 1 January 2025, this protection applies to electrical disconnections. Medically dependent consumers may still experience planned or unplanned power outages.)
Data coverage and definitions
The dashboard does not include disconnections data from retailers with less than 1,000 domestic and small business ICPs on 1 January 2025 (as they are excluded from the reporting requirement), or from retailers with a current extension or exemption.
The number of times a customer is disconnected each month is based on both unique ICPs and customer accounts. For example, if a customer has two properties on the same account (e.g., a house and bach) and both are disconnected, these are counted as separate disconnections, not as one customer being disconnected twice.
For disconnections with time information provided, disconnections are classified as ‘less than one day’ if they were reconnected within 24 hours. If time information is unavailable, disconnections are considered ‘less than one day’ if they were reconnected on the same calendar day (the actual duration may be substantially shorter than one day and entail minimal impacts on energy use).
The ‘Disconnection duration’ tab excludes disconnections with unavailable reconnection information. This may occur if the reconnection happened outside the reporting period, the customer switched to another retailer, or the property was vacated. We will conduct further analysis of these cases to better understand the customer outcomes, including how long the disconnection lasted or if the ICP has been classified as ‘vacated’.
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