The AER has published version 5 of the Electricity transmission ring-fencing guideline (the Guideline), accompanied by an explanatory statement. Version 5 of the guideline extends several ring-fencing obligations to negotiated connection services and makes several other changes to improve the ring-fencing framework.
The amendments seek to ensure the guideline remains fit for purpose in a changing regulatory landscape and electricity market by:
- Extending ring-fencing obligations to negotiated transmission services in order to protect competition in contestable services.
- Reinforcing that transmission network service providers must not use their monopoly in negotiated transmission services to discriminate between providers of contestable connection services.
- Introducing additional reporting and compliance obligations, to increase transparency and ensure effective monitoring of compliance with the guideline.
Today’s release follows a review initiated by the AER in March 2023 and the subsequent amendment to rule 6A.21.2 of the National Electricity Rules (NER), which empowered the AER to introduce ring-fencing protections for negotiated transmission services where appropriate. Stakeholder feedback from multiple consultation processes has informed our development of version 5 of the Guideline. An overview of submissions received on the updates to the Guideline is set out in the explanatory statement.
Transmission network service providers will need to comply with version 5 of the guideline from 24 August 2025. There are specific transitional arrangements for Powerlink, which recognise Queensland’s partial jurisdictional derogation in September 2024 for some ring-fencing requirements.