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

The majority of Queensland gas is used to produce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for export to key trading partners.

Queensland's local gas consumption (excluding LNG) is currently about 150 petajoules per year. The majority of natural gas residential and small commercial users (i.e. those using less than 1 terajoule of gas a year) in Queensland are located in Brisbane. Large industrial customers are located in regional centres such as Gladstone, Townsville and Mount Isa, as well as Brisbane.

Electricity generation and industrial processes, including mineral processing, account for the vast majority of Queensland's gas consumption.

Queensland's residential and small-scale commercial use of gas accounts for only a very small proportion of consumption – significantly lower than in the southern states due to Queensland's warmer climate and resulting lack of gas use for heating purposes.