The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has today published the Interim Market Liquidity Obligation Guidelines which form part of the AER’s functions for the Retailer Reliability Obligation (RRO).
As part of the RRO process, if the Australian Energy Market Operator identifies a material gap in the Electricity Statement of Opportunities three years out, it will apply to the AER to make a T-3 reliability instrument and trigger the RRO. If the RRO is triggered, a Market Liquidity Obligation (MLO) on deemed MLO generators will commence in the affected NEM region to ensure the availability of contracts to market customers in the lead up to the reliability gap period.
The AER has a role to monitor the compliance of the deemed MLO generators with the MLO. The Interim Market Liquidity Obligation Guidelines outline the AER’s approach to monitoring MLO generator performance with the MLO, compliance, approving additional MLO products and MLO exchanges, and performance exemptions.
The AER is also releasing a final determination relating to the deemed MLO generators in Victoria. This determination has added the Jeeralang and Newport generators to EnergyAustralia’s MLO group in Victoria.
As set out in the National Electricity Rules (NER), the interim guideline will be replaced by a final version. The final version will be developed from early 2020 and will be published by 31 December 2020.