Watchdog eyes mandatory code for gas companies

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is eyeing for the creation of a mandatory code for gas companies which includes a “reasonable pricing” principle.

“We are in the process of preparing that advice but it’s premature to comment on it,” ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb told a parliamentary committee on Thursday.

At this stage, no gas supplier has signed up to the voluntary code.

She said price mechanisms at the wholesale level were top of the agenda but capping retail prices had not been ruled out.

The ACCC chair said it was not investigating the option of a super profits tax on gas companies.

On Tuesday, senior Treasury officials said they backed government intervention in energy markets to push prices down.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher also explained why price was not embedded into the heads of agreement brokered by the resources minister with gas exporters.

She said the government had faced back-to-back challenges on energy since taking office and supply shortages were the concern when the agreements were negotiated.

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“I’m not saying that dealt with every issue we’re seeing in the energy market at the moment – that’s clearly not the case – but it dealt with part of the problem,” Senator Gallagher said.

LNP senator Susan McDonald asked if energy players had raised concerns about a price cap or any other price-restricting mechanism leading to lower gas supplies more broadly.

“Some stakeholders in consultation have made comments to that effect,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We are conscious of those questions and taking them into account.”

But intervention in the energy market is popular among the public, with almost nine in 10 Australians wanting the government to intervene in the gas market as prices soar.

An Australia Institute study found 86 per cent of people support export controls or a windfall profits tax after the federal budget forecast a combined 50 per cent spike in gas and electricity prices in the next two years.

The study says 80 per cent of people support export controls and 71 per cent want a windfall profits tax, with just three per cent disagreeing with both measures.

Australia Institute senior economist Matt Grudnoff said a windfall profits tax could grab $20 billion in revenue to spend on other cost-of-living measures.

The Greens have outlined such a plan, writing to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for support on a coal and gas profits tax, combined with a price cap.

Under costings by the Parliamentary Budget Office commissioned by the Greens, the average household would save $776 by March 2024 under a plan to freeze electricity bills at pre-Ukraine invasion levels for two years.

This would be funded by a windfall tax on coal, oil, and gas companies recording mega profits.

With AAP.