On 9 January 2020, the South Australia Minister for Energy and Mining triggered the Retailer Reliability Obligation (RRO) in South Australia for the first quarters of 2022 and 2023.
The RRO is designed to support reliability in the National Electricity Market (NEM). In particular it encourages retailers, and some large energy users, to establish contracts for their share of demand for a prescribed period. If a T-1 reliability instrument is made later this year, retailers in South Australia will be obligated to establish contracts and report the details to the AER.
Under South Australia’s declaration, the details of the prescribed periods are:
- each weekday from 10 January 2022 – 18 March 2022 for the trading periods between 3pm and 9pm EST; and
- each weekday from 9 January 2023 – 17 March 2023 for the trading periods between 3pm and 9pm EST.
As of 7 February 2020, large generation businesses in South Australia, namely Origin, AGL and Engie, will be required to offer contracts for the prescribed periods at specific times on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). This is a requirement under the Market Liquidity Obligation (MLO).
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has a monitoring and compliance role to ensure that Origin, AGL and Engie offer appropriate products on the ASX as required.
The Interim MLO Guideline outlines the AER’s approach to compliance monitoring.