With the demise of the carbon tax, the ACCC has new powers to take action against businesses supplying regulated goods that fail to pass through all cost savings attributable to consumers.
Businesses will be required to provide evidence to the ACCC to show that they have passed on the cost savings.
Rod Sims, chairman ACCC, said, if businesses fail to pass through all cost savings from the carbon tax repeal, the ACCC will take enforcement action against them, and “seek serious penalties from the courts”.
“These businesses will be required to explain how the carbon tax repeal affected their input costs and how they are passing through the savings,” Sims said.
“These powers are in addition to the ACCC’s existing investigative powers and will ensure that businesses engaging in price exploitation are identified and enforcement action is taken against them,”
A supplier of regulated goods that fails to pass through all cost savings attributable to the carbon tax repeal will breach the carbon tax price reduction obligation and may face court imposed penalties of up to $1.1 million per contravention for corporations, or $220,000 per contravention for an individual.
The court can also issue injunctions or declarations, make compensation orders or orders setting the maximum price of a regulated good or requiring the supplier to pay refunds to consumers.
