Today the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) opened consultation on a draft decision and draft guidelines that will accompany the introduction of the Wholesale Demand Response Mechanism into the National Energy Market (NEM) later this year.
The mechanism, to be introduced on 24 October 2021 following an Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) rule change in June last year, will provide more flexible capacity in the wholesale market by allowing eligible large energy consumers, such as big industrial manufacturing plants, to offer a partial reduction or a full shut-down of their energy load back into the NEM.
As part of this reform, the AER must publish Wholesale Demand Response Participation Guidelines to set out record-keeping requirements for large-scale energy consumers who choose to participate in the mechanism.
Invitation for submissions
The AER invites written submissions in response to the Wholesale Demand Response Participation daft decision and draft guidelines by the close of business 13 August 2021. This feedback will assist the AER to finalise appropriate record keeping requirements.
Submissions should be sent electronically to: AERCompliance
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERCompliance[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) with the following email title: Wholesale Demand Response Participation Guidelines – Draft decision and draft guidelines.
We ask that all submissions sent in an electronic format are in Microsoft Word or other text readable form.
Alternatively, submissions may be sent to:
We prefer that all submissions be publicly available to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process. Submissions will be treated as public documents and posted on our website unless prior arrangements are made with us to treat the submission, or portions of it, as confidential. Those wishing to submit confidential information are requested to clearly identify the information that is the subject of the confidentiality claim, and also provide a non-confidential version of the submission.
For further information regarding our use and disclosure of information provided to us, see the ACCC/AER Information Policy.