The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has opened its final consultation on its proposed approach to support energy businesses get new and innovative services up and running.
The AER today released a Positions Paper and Draft Trial Projects Guideline that seek to support the new regulatory sandboxing service.
Regulatory sandboxing aims to help energy innovators and start-ups navigate complex regulatory frameworks and enable the trial of new products and services that will deliver greater choice and cheaper options for consumers.
The Positions Paper outlines the final proposal for how the regulatory sandboxing toolkit will be implemented.
The Trial Draft Projects Guideline outlines the AER's proposed approach to assessing trial waiver applications and carrying out our other functions in relation to trial projects delivered as part of the regulatory sandbox service, particularly:
- requirements for an application
- assessing and granting trial waivers
- overseeing the conduct and outcomes of trials
- extension, early termination and opt outs of trials, and
- conditions for trial waivers.
This consultation focuses on the Draft Trial Projects Guideline. The Positions Paper and Draft Trial Projects Guideline both take into account feedback raised by in response to the Issues Paper released in November 2021.
Have your say
Interested parties are invited to make written submissions to the AER regarding the Draft Trial Projects Guideline by the close of business, 3 June 2022.
Submissions should be sent electronically to: regulatorysandbox
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (regulatorysandbox[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) The AER will also be available to meet with interested parties on the issues raised in this paper. We will seek to publish the substance of all meetings unless a confidentiality claim is made.
We ask that all submissions sent in an electronic format are in Microsoft Word or other text readable document form. If providing a written submission, we prefer they be publicly available to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process. We will treat written submissions as public documents unless otherwise requested
To request a meeting or if you would like to ask a question about the AER’s proposed regulatory sandbox, please email the AER at: regulatorysandboxaer [dot] gov [dot] au (regulatorysandbox[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au)