In 2022, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) introduced the Better Bills Guideline which sets out how energy retailers must design bills for consumers and what content they must include. This report aims to understand the impact of the Guideline on consumers’ comprehension of bill content and their confidence to engage in the energy market. 

Three research activities were undertaken. 

1. Monitoring of Energy Made Easy website (EME) searches using a pop-up survey.
2. Interviews with consumers and eye tracking data looking at pre- and post-implementation bills from 9 retailers.
3. Energy consumer experts reviewed pre- and post-implementation bills from 9 retailers.

The research shows that the Better Bills Guideline has been effective in simplifying and clarifying bills to support consumer comprehension. It has also led to increased consumer engagement in the energy market. 

A bigger proportion of people compared plans on EME after seeing it mentioned on their bill (23%) compared to before the Guideline was implemented (7%). More than 60% of people visiting EME after seeing it mentioned on their bill had not previously switched retailers, showing that the Guideline is effective in supporting consumers who may not have otherwise compared plans on EME.