It is understood that in addition to the retail end of the market, new groups representing the electricity generation sector and the gas and electricity transmission sectors will also be created out the merger.

“The merger hasn’t been locked in yet, the discussions are in the formative stages at the moment,” said an AGA spokesperson.

“It will probably be the end of the year or early next year before the merger comes into effect,” he said.

“In the past, the AGA and ESAA claimed to represent the entire chain of their industries. Now competition policy demands that industries be sector-specific and this merger is a maturing of industry representation in line with the policy,” AGA executive director Bill Nagle told the Financial Review last week.

Keith Orchison, executive director of the ESAA, said the merger is an evolution reflecting the fact that the market has moved from a series of state-owned monopolies to a series of disaggregated companies. “We are the first of the peak bodies to reflect the changing marketplace,” Orchison said.