Fuel Price Monitoring

733 Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (26 August 2021). What are the regulatory costs associated with the Fuel Price Transparency Scheme and the fee paid to the data aggregator?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning and Local Government): I have been advised:

In the 2020-21 financial year, the government spent $0.22 million towards the implementation and establishment of the Fuel Pricing Information Scheme (Scheme) which commenced in March 2021, including on:

Project resources required to undertake tasks to implement the scheme, including the drafting of supporting regulations, development of technical specifications and IT business requirements, management and undertaking of procurement processes, management of stakeholder engagement and communications, coordinating the onboarding and registration process of fuel retailers.

A compliance and enforcement officer to undertake targeted risk-based enforcement activities, assess consumer complaints and liaise with noncompliant retailers.

Engagement of a third-party aggregation service to collect and collate fuel retailer price information and make it available to app developers, and in turn, consumers.

It is expected that approximately $0.40 million will be dedicated to the ongoing support and management of the scheme in the 2021-22 financial year, including towards:

Maintenance of the funding of a compliance and enforcement officer to continue to undertake targeted risk-based enforcement activities, assess consumer complaints and liaise with noncompliant retailers.

Continued engagement of the third-party data aggregator.

Media campaigns to encourage consumers to take advantage of the benefits of greater access to fuel pricing information.

Communication and education campaigns directed towards fuel retailers to ensure ongoing compliance with the scheme.

Assessing the Scheme to determine the merits of continuing it beyond the two-year trial period.

In relation to the fee paid to the data aggregator, the Government approached the open market to secure a data aggregator and released a tender invitation on tenders.sa.gov.au in October 2020.

The procurement process that followed this tender was overseen by senior procurement officers and was undertaken in full compliance with government procurement policy.

I am not able to provide specific details to the member of the contract that resulted nor the fee negotiated with the data aggregator as it is part of commercial in confidence procurement process.