Guide 4 of 6
Embedded networks: when the site sells you the power
In an embedded network, the owner of a site such as an apartment block, retirement village or caravan park usually buys energy from a retailer and on-sells it to the people living there. You keep rights as a customer, but choosing your own retailer can be difficult, and is not always possible.
The AER’s rules below apply in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania; Victoria’s are set out further down.
General information, not legal advice. If you rent, the AER notes your tenancy agreement may also give you rights and obligations about energy.
How it is wired
The AER describes a site whose electrical wiring is configured so the owner can sell energy to everyone there. The ESC describes energy that reaches a building or area with several tenants through a supplier that is privately owned and run, instead of through a licensed retailer.
- 1 The site’s connection to the distributor’s network.
- 2 The site’s own wiring, beyond that connection.
- 3 Each home’s own meter.
- 4 The site owner or operator, who on-sells the energy.
Most people selling energy in embedded networks are “exempt sellers”: they don’t need to be authorised by the AER as retailers, but they do need a valid exemption from the AER and must follow rules that protect you.
Electricity, and sometimes gas
Electricity
The AER describes embedded networks through the way a site’s electrical wiring is configured, and the ESC sets them out under electricity. Energy Made Easy’s glossary notes that an exempt seller may resell electricity, gas or both.
Gas
Different rules apply if you live in an apartment and pay for bulk hot water, and they may differ depending on where you live. Energy Made Easy suggests asking your retailer.
Your rights when the site is the seller
Your seller must tell you about your rights at the start of the arrangement, give you a copy of its exemption conditions and explain its obligations. Energy Made Easy lists what exempt sellers must do:
- provide your power supply;
- explain your rights and responsibilities;
- let you know when bills will arrive and when they are due;
- offer a way to make a complaint;
- not cut off your power unfairly;
- not charge more than the standard retail plan.
Exempt sellers and network operators supplying residential customers must join their state or territory’s energy ombudsman scheme where membership is available, and the ombudsman can help with concerns about supply from an exempt seller.
Choosing your own retailer
You can buy electricity from an authorised retailer or the exempt seller, but the AER says it may be difficult to buy from anyone else, because of how the network is wired or because retailers may not want to sell inside one. Its fact sheet is blunter: you will generally be unable to switch, and retailers are not required to sell to you.
If a retailer will sell to you, the AER’s main caution is about paying network charges twice. The site owner usually pays them and bills you a share, and a retailer normally charges them too. Its suggestion is to check for an ‘energy only’ offer, or for an arrangement between the site and the retailer about who bills the network charges.
Not all retailers offer energy-only plans; availability depends on your property, meter setup and location, and the AER does not endorse any retailer. Energy Made Easy’s route is to find a plan on its site, contact the retailer offering it, and ask what you need to do to sign up. Buying from an authorised retailer gives you all the protections retailers owe under the National Energy Retail Law and Rules.
If the seller goes out of business
The seller must notify the AER immediately if it is likely to be unable to keep selling energy. The AER’s first suggestion is finding another authorised retailer to take over the network; in the longer term, homes may be able to connect directly to the local network, which may need infrastructure changes and a contribution to costs. Your local distributor can explain how, and what it costs.
In Victoria
- You can search your address on the ESC’s Register of Exempt Persons to see whether you are in an embedded network.
- The ESC says the amount you can be charged for electricity is capped, and that its Energy Retail Code of Practice gives embedded network customers protections similar to other Victorian electricity customers.
- Every caravan park, holiday park, residential land lease park, manufactured home estate and retirement village with an embedded network must register with the ESC, whatever the number of customers.
- The Victorian Government banned embedded networks in new residential apartment buildings from January 2023, with limited exemptions for buildings running on 100 per cent renewable energy. In 2026 it described the rule as a ban on most new embedded networks in apartments, other than those meeting strict renewable energy standards.
- In May 2026 it announced a law change requiring energy companies to offer lower electricity and gas prices to embedded network customers, to start on 1 July 2027 after consultation.