Affordability is at the top of the priority list for everyone. For us, it’s important to ensure our investment priorities strike the right balance between safety, reliability, growth and affordability.

There are many factors to consider in price resets, such as prudent expenditure, rate of return, depreciation, real price growth and service-price options. Possibly the most topical for customers and stakeholders when it comes to pricing is the conversation about tariffs.

Network pricing is set in accordance with the National Electricity Rules (NER) and recovers costs related to electricity distribution in addition to transmission and solar PV feed-in-tariff costs, including smart meters. While you may not see this cost on your bill, it makes up the total amount that is charged by your retailer. It is the amount it costs the retailer to access our network so they can supply you with electricity.

When we set prices we’re thinking about the end user, so we design them in a way that provides agency. This means considering the way people use, store and generate power, now and into the future, and understanding what our customers value most.

We think good pricing should support customers and consider their diversity. They must also send the right signals to retailers and end users – residents, small business, commercial and industrial. Recognising these important attributes is the first step to ensuring our tariff structures are underpinned by customers’ choice.

We’ve progressed our plans for network pricing collaboratively with all Victorian networks. You can read about our progress here.

Some of the things we’ll consider in designing tariffs for 2021-2015 include:

• Tariff principles, tariff design option and transition paths
• Complementary services we can bundle with our tariffs to make them easier for customers to understand
• Rebates and incentives schemes to encourage people to reduce demand during peak events.