The short answer
Register your number, then close the gaps the Register leaves
The Do Not Call Register is the right first move against unwanted energy sales calls. Run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, it is free, and once you register your number stays on the list permanently. It stops most commercial telemarketing. What it does not do is the part most people miss: it cannot stop a business you already deal with, so your current energy retailer can still phone you, and it does nothing at all about door-knocking, which sits under a completely separate set of rules. This guide shows how to register a landline and a mobile, then how to close the gaps the Register leaves open.
Here is the core takeaway in one line: the Do Not Call Register, run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, is free and permanent and stops most commercial energy telemarketing within 30 days, but it does not stop a business you already deal with, it does not cover exempt callers such as charities and market researchers, and it does nothing about door-knocking, which is regulated separately. So register every personal number, landline and mobile, as your first step. Then deal with the gaps deliberately: withdraw consent with each company you already use, learn your door-to-door cooling-off rights, and report any breaches to the ACMA. Treat the Register as one layer, not the whole defence.
Reframe the assumption: "register and the calls stop" is only half true. The Register handles strangers selling to you cold. It was never built to silence a company you have a relationship with, and it has no reach over someone standing at your front door. Energy is one of the most heavily marketed retail products in Australia, so those two gaps are exactly where the pressure lands.
What the Register does and does not cover
Covered, and the gaps left wide open
The Register is a legal obligation on cold telemarketers, not a technical block on your line. Knowing what it cannot touch is the difference between fewer calls and no calls.
| Type of contact | Register | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Cold telemarketing sales calls from energy retailers | Covered | Once registered for 30 days, these must stop. |
| Telemarketing texts (SMS marketing) | Covered | Commercial marketing texts are caught by the spam and telemarketing rules. |
| Calls from a retailer you are already a customer of | Not covered | The existing business relationship exemption lets them call; ask for their internal no-contact list. |
| Charities, political parties, market research, government | Not covered | These are exempt and may still call a registered number. |
| Door-to-door sales agents at your home | Not covered | Door-knocking is governed by the Australian Consumer Law, not the Register. |
The blind spot
Why "just register" leaves the calls coming
Most advice on stopping energy sales calls stops at one instruction: put your number on the Do Not Call Register. That is good advice, and it is incomplete, because it treats the Register as a switch that turns off all unwanted contact. It is not.
The first thing it misses is the existing business relationship exemption. The Register is designed to block strangers, not companies you already deal with. Your current energy retailer is precisely the company most likely to ring you with a "better" plan or a retention offer, and the Register lets them, because you are their customer. People register, keep getting called by their own provider, and assume the Register has failed. It has not. It was never going to stop that call.
The second thing it misses is door-knocking. The Register governs phone and fax marketing. It has no reach over a sales agent who walks up your driveway. Door-to-door energy selling is legal and common, and it is governed by an entirely different body of law, the Australian Consumer Law, with its own rules on hours, conduct and cancellation rights.
So the honest version is this: the Register is the right first step, and on its own it will never get you to zero. The calls that remain after you register are either allowed or against the rules, and each type needs a different response.
How the rules actually work
Expert analysis: the Register, consent and the door
The Register, and what "registered" actually buys you
The Do Not Call Register is a national database run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). You add your Australian phone numbers, landline and mobile alike, and from that point telemarketers are legally required to leave you alone. Registration is free, and it is now permanent: it does not expire and never needs renewing, so any message telling you to "renew your Do Not Call registration" is a scam. Businesses must wash their calling lists against the Register at least every 30 days, which is why a registered number can still ring for up to 30 days before the cold calls dry up.
The existing business relationship exemption
This is the gap that catches most people. The Register stops unsolicited telemarketing, but if you have an existing business relationship with a company, it can keep calling you with offers regardless of your registration. Your energy retailer is the textbook case. The remedy is not the Register; it is to withdraw your consent directly. Contact the retailer and ask to be added to their internal "do not contact" or marketing opt-out list, in writing if you can, so you have a record. That removes the basis for the exemption, and the marketing calls should then stop too.
Other exempt callers you cannot register away
A handful of categories sit outside the Register entirely, as long as there is no sales offer attached: registered charities seeking donations, political parties and candidates, government bodies, and market researchers and opinion pollsters. These can lawfully call a registered number. Energy retailers do not fall into any of these categories for cold selling, so a cold sales call from an energy company after 30 days on the Register is generally a breach worth reporting.
Door-knocking lives under a different law
A sale agreed at your door is an unsolicited consumer agreement under the Australian Consumer Law, enforced by the ACCC and your state or territory fair-trading office, not by the ACMA. The rules are specific. Agents may only call between 9am and 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, and never on Sundays or public holidays. They must identify themselves and their purpose, and they must leave immediately if you ask them to. Crucially, you get a 10 business-day cooling-off period to cancel any agreement for any reason, during which the agent cannot take payment or start supply. Some states and councils restrict energy door-knocking further, and a "do not knock" sticker on your door is a clear withdrawal of consent.
Interactive helper
Stop energy sales contact: what to do
Tick what is actually happening to you. The helper shows the correct, plain-English action for each kind of contact, because the right move is different for a cold caller, your own retailer, a text, and someone at your door.
What is happening to you?
General guidance, not legal advice. Assumes an Australian personal phone number and a residential address; business numbers and door rules can differ by state and territory. Register at donotcall.gov.au; report telemarketing breaches to the ACMA and door-to-door breaches to your state or territory fair-trading office. Last reviewed 2026-06-15.
Compare retailers on your own termsThe insider insight
Why a registered number still gets sold energy
Here is the part the standard guides understate. Energy is one of the most aggressively marketed retail products in Australia, and a number sitting on the Do Not Call Register still gets contacted for two distinct reasons, each needing a different fix.
The first reason is legitimate loopholes. The existing business relationship exemption means your own retailer can call, and door-knocking falls outside the Register entirely. The second reason is operators who simply ignore the rules, typically offshore call centres and outright scammers, for whom an Australian register carries no weight. Registration filters out the honest cold callers. It does nothing to the two groups that generate most of the pressure: companies you already deal with, and outfits that were never going to comply.
That is why the genuinely effective approach is a combination, not a single action. Register your landline and mobile to clear the honest cold callers. Withdraw consent in writing with each company you deal with, to close the existing-relationship gap. Record and report breaches to the ACMA, so persistent offenders face consequences. And know your door-to-door rights, so an agent at your door cannot pressure you into signing on the spot. No single step gets you to silence; the combination does most of the work.
When the rules are broken
How to report a breach, and why it works
If you keep getting cold energy sales calls more than 30 days after registering, that is likely a breach, and reporting it is worthwhile. The ACMA rarely chases a single call on its own, but it builds cases from the reports it receives, and persistent offenders face investigation and penalties. Your report is evidence in that pattern.
Before you report, capture the basics while they are fresh: the date and time of the call, the number that rang you, and the company or product being sold. You can ask the caller directly who they are calling on behalf of; under the telemarketing standard they are required to tell you. Then submit the complaint to the ACMA, which runs the Register.
Door-to-door breaches go to a different place. If an agent called outside permitted hours, refused to leave when asked, or pressured you to sign, that is a matter for your state or territory fair-trading office under the Australian Consumer Law, not the ACMA. And if a call or message claims you must "renew" or "pay for" your Do Not Call registration, treat it as a scam: registration is free, permanent, and the ACMA will never contact you to renew it.
Grounded in the rules
What you should actually do
Four steps that follow from how the rules work, not generic advice.
Register your landline and mobile
Add every personal number to the Do Not Call Register at donotcall.gov.au. It is free, it is permanent, and it stops most cold telemarketing within 30 days. There is nothing to renew and nothing to pay.
Withdraw consent with each company
For any retailer you already deal with, ask to be added to their internal "do not contact" list, in writing where possible. This closes the existing business relationship gap the Register leaves open.
Record and report breaches
If cold sales calls continue past 30 days, note the date, time, number and company, then report the breach to the ACMA. Reports build the cases that penalise persistent offenders.
Never sign at the door
Door-to-door agents must work within permitted hours and leave when asked. You get a 10 business-day cooling-off period, so never sign on the spot: use the window to compare the offer properly first.
One state caveat that matters: door-to-door rules are set nationally by the Australian Consumer Law, but some states, territories and local councils restrict energy door-knocking further, and a "do not knock" sticker is a clear, lawful withdrawal of consent that agents must respect. If you want to switch energy plans, do it on your own terms by comparing offers yourself, rather than signing whatever lands on your phone or your doorstep.
Current figures, last updated 2026-06-15
Australian Do Not Call Register and door-to-door rules for 2026. Sources: the Australian Communications and Media Authority (acma.gov.au), the Do Not Call Register (donotcall.gov.au) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (accc.gov.au). Confirm current rules before relying on them, as regulations are reviewed from time to time.
The bottom line
Register first, then close the gaps
The Do Not Call Register is the right first move, and it is genuinely effective against cold energy telemarketing: free, permanent, and binding on honest businesses within 30 days. What it cannot do is the part that matters most for energy customers. It will not stop a retailer you already deal with, and it has no reach over a sales agent at your door. The people who actually stop the contact treat the Register as one layer of four: they register every personal number, they withdraw consent in writing with the companies they use, they report breaches to the ACMA, and they know their door-to-door cooling-off rights so they never sign under pressure. Do all four, and the unwanted energy contact stops being a feature of your week.
Common questions
A Selectra expert answers your call-register questions
Do three things, not one. First, register every personal number, landline and mobile, on the Do Not Call Register at donotcall.gov.au: it is free and stops most cold telemarketing within 30 days. Second, for any retailer you already deal with, tell them directly to put you on their internal no-contact list, because the Register’s existing business relationship exemption still lets them call. Third, if calls continue after 30 days, record the details and report the breach to the ACMA. The Register handles cold callers; revoking consent with each company handles the rest.
It is completely free, and it does not expire. Registration used to lapse after a set period, but the rules changed: once your number is on the Register it stays there permanently and never needs renewing. The ACMA will never contact you to ask you to renew or to pay, so any call or message claiming you must do so is a scam. You only ever come off the list if you deliberately deregister your number.
Usually one of two reasons. Either the caller is allowed to ring you, because you are an existing customer of theirs or the organisation is exempt (a charity, political group, market researcher or government body), or the caller is breaking the rules. Some operators, particularly offshore call centres and scam outfits, simply ignore the Register. Registration is not a technical block on the line; it is a legal obligation telemarketers must follow. Honest businesses comply, so the calls that remain are usually exempt callers or rule-breakers worth reporting to the ACMA.
Yes. The Do Not Call Register has an existing business relationship exemption, which means a company you currently deal with can keep calling you with offers even if your number is registered. Your energy retailer is the classic example. The fix is to contact them directly and ask to be added to their internal “do not contact” or marketing opt-out list, ideally in writing so you have a record. That withdraws the consent the exemption relies on, and from then on those marketing calls should stop too.
Yes, but they are tightly regulated, and the Do Not Call Register does not touch them. A sale agreed at your door is an unsolicited consumer agreement under the Australian Consumer Law. Agents may only call between 9am and 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, never on Sundays or public holidays. They must tell you who they are and why they are there, must leave immediately if you ask, and you get a 10 business-day cooling-off period to cancel for any reason. Never sign at the door: use the cooling-off window to compare the offer properly first.
Report it to the ACMA, the regulator that runs the Register. Note the date and time of the call, the number that rang you, and the name of the company or product being sold, then submit a complaint through the ACMA. The ACMA does not usually chase individual calls one by one, but it uses each report as evidence to investigate and penalise persistent offenders, so reporting genuinely matters. For door-to-door breaches, such as an agent who would not leave or called outside permitted hours, contact your state or territory fair-trading office instead.
