The Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation Regulatory (EGRC) Scheme was established on 1 January 2014, as a result of the merger of Verve Energy and Synergy, which became the Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation, trading as Synergy.
The scheme includes requirements for business segregation, non-discriminatory wholesale electricity trading and the provision of standard products and was introduced to mitigate the effects of the merger on competition in the Wholesale Electricity Market.
The scheme instruments require Synergy to:
- divide its operations into generation, retail and wholesale business units, and prepare separate financial statements for each on a quarterly basis;
- provide Standard Products, being fixed quantities of wholesale electricity supplies available for sale and purchase at published prices; and
- restrict the flow of commercial information between its business units.
The EGRC consists of the following two instruments:
- Electricity Corporations (Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation) Regulations 2013 (EGRC Regulations); and
- Electricity (Standard Products) Wholesale Arrangements 2014 (Wholesale Arrangements).
Improving the Effectiveness of the EGRC Scheme
The Economic Regulation Authority (ERA) must review the Scheme every two years. The ERA publishes the reports of its reviews on the Synergy's regulatory scheme - Economic Regulation Authority Western Australia web page.
Information on DEED’s reviews into the effectiveness of the EGRC Scheme can be found on the Improving the Effectiveness of the EGRC Scheme web page.
Open Consultation: The 2025 EGRC Scheme review
The Department of Energy and Economic Diversification (DEED) is currently consulting on changes to the Wholesale Arrangements to implement recommendations from ERA’s latest review of the scheme. These amendments are to:
- require Synergy to publish further detail on its standard product pricing method;
- rectify an error introduced in 2023 to ensure that Synergy is restricted from offering buy-side standard products to entities with market power; and
- update outdated references, including provisions relating to the now abolished Clean Energy Act 2011 (Cth).
The Exposure Draft can be found on the Consultation on proposed amendments Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation (EGRC) Scheme’s Wholesale Arrangements web page.
Stakeholders are invited to provide written feedback on the Exposure Draft before 5:00pm (AWST) on 9 June 2026.
Wholesale Arrangements
DEED has prepared an unofficial consolidated version of the Electricity (Standard Products) Wholesale Arrangements 2014 to assist stakeholders. This can be found on the Electricity (Standard Products) Wholesale Arrangements 2014 – Unofficial Consolidated Version web page.
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