Electricity licences

In this guide:

Electricity regulation and licensing

Under the Electricity Act 1994, the regulator (the Director-General of the Department of Energy and Water Supply) issues authorities (licences) for generation, transmission, distribution and retail activities in Queensland's electricity industry.

If you apply for a licence to generate, transmit, distribute or (if you do not hold an interstate authority) retail electricity, the regulator must, before issuing the authority, invite interested persons to make a submission about the application and must consider any submissions received.

Generation authority

A generation authority allows you to connect a generating plant to a transmission grid or supply network. It also allows you to sell electricity, either through the National Electricity Market or as otherwise specified.

Note: If you operate a generating plant with a capacity of 30 megawatts or fewer, you have special approval, under section 130 of the Electricity Regulation 2006, to connect the generating plant to a transmission grid or supply network and sell electricity generated by that plant. In this case, you would not need to hold a generation authority but may rely on the special approval given by regulation.

Transmission authority

A transmission authority allows you to operate a transmission grid and may also authorise you to connect the transmission grid to another transmission grid.

Distribution authority

A distribution authority allows you to supply electricity using a supply network within the distribution area stated in the authority.

Retail authority

A retail authority allows you to provide customer retail services, which means you can sell electricity to a customer for the customer's premises.

The retail authority may either:

specify a retail area - you may provide customer retail services to excluded customers in your retail area and, in competition with other licensed retail entities, to any customer anywhere in Queensland (however, Ergon Energy Queensland Pty Ltd is restricted to providing customer retail services only to non-market customers in its retail area)
have no retail area specified - you may provide customer retail services, in competition with other licensed retail entities, to any customer anywhere in Queensland (other than excluded customers to whom the holder has no retail obligation - see section 23(6) of the Act).

If you hold both types of retail authority you also have an obligation (called the retail obligation) to provide, on request, customer retail services (on a standard contract) to certain types of customers in certain circumstances (as set out in sections 48D to 48I of the Act.

The terms of the contract and retail prices that apply will vary depending on the size of the customer's electricity use, in addition to other circumstances. Download more information about the different types of electricity retail contracts and prices (PDF, 52KB) to find out which customers can access the regulated tariffs (PDF, 58KB).

Although the retail obligation applies to the types of customers and circumstances set out above, those customers may choose to enter into a negotiated retail contract, on negotiated prices, with either the retail entity who has the retail obligation for their premises (except where that entity is Ergon Energy Queensland Pty Ltd) or another retail entity of the customer's choice.

Download a list of licensed electricity retailers (PDF, 65KB).

Special approval

A special approval allows you to perform the activities specified in the authority, which may be any of the activities normally authorised by a generation, transmission, distribution or retail authority.

Generally, special approvals are granted when special circumstances apply such that authorisation of the activities by a generation, transmission, distribution or retail authority, as the case may be, is not appropriate. For example, a special approval may allow the operator of an island resort, which is generating its own electricity, operating its own supply network and selling electricity within the resort, to perform those generation, distribution and retail activities.

Application process for an authority or special approval

In deciding whether to issue an authority or special approval, the Act requires the regulator to consider a set of clearly defined criteria and, in most cases, to conduct a public consultation process about the application.

The following guidelines on the form and content of applications are available to help you apply:

You should be aware of the Queensland Government's policy about new coal-fired generation set out in ClimateQ: Toward a greener Queensland, as well as the Queensland Government's policy about electricity supply in the Daintree region.

Proforma authorities and special approvals and conditions

Copies of individual authorities and special approvals are generally not published nor made available unless the holder consents. Proformas for each type of authority and special approval are available:

proforma generation authority (PDF, 25KB)
proforma transmission authority (PDF, 24KB)
proforma distribution authority (PDF, 24KB)
proforma retail authority
- with a retail area (PDF, 25KB)
- without a retail area (PDF, 134KB) (holder of interstate retail licence)
- without a retail area (PDF, 24KB) (other)
proforma special approval (PDF, 23KB)

Individual authorities and special approvals may contain different or additional conditions in some cases. Many of the conditions of the authorities and special approvals are set out in the Act and Regulation. Read the Electricity Act and Regulation.

The regulator is responsible for monitoring compliance with the conditions of authorities and special approvals, and taking disciplinary action where necessary. The disciplinary action that may be taken includes suspension, amendment or cancellation of the authority or special approval and fines.