Gas retail and competition

Gas retail competition

On 1 July 2007, full retail competition (also known as Full Retail Contestability or FRC), was introduced into the Queensland natural gas market. This means all Queensland natural gas customers (other than those in Roma and Dalby) are entitled to choose which retailer they purchase their natural gas from.

For more information, download a copy of the Retail Market Procedures (Queensland) from the Australian Energy Market Operator website.

Gas retailers operate under the National Energy Customer Framework (NECF), a set of national laws, rules and regulations governing the sale and supply of energy to consumers.

Gas consumption

Queensland's gas consumption has risen significantly since 2004. We currently consume around 280 petajoules per year, up from around 221 petajoules in 2011 (a joule is a standard unit of energy). There are about 226,258 natural gas residential and small commercial users (i.e. those using less than 1 terajoule of gas a year) in Queensland, most of which are in Brisbane. Large industrial customers are located in regional centres such as Gladstone, Townsville and Mount Isa, as well as Brisbane.

Electricity generation, fertiliser production and mineral processing accounts for over 97% of Queensland's gas consumption.

Residential and small-scale commercial use of gas accounts for nearly 3% of consumption. This is significantly lower than in the southern states due to Queensland's warmer climate and resulting lack of gas use for heating purposes.