To support innovation, the National Electricity Rules allow for tariff trials (NER cl. 6.18.1C).
We have published our guidance to distributors on how these trials could be approached in the document.
AER - Distributors should explore tariff trials
As of August 2021 the individual and cumulative thresholds for tariff trials have been increased to 1% and 5% respectively. This increase is temporary and applies for the current and next regulatory periods. We encourage distributors to take advantage of these provisions to trial more innovative and cost reflective tariffs.
Any trials that distributors wish to run in the first year of the 5 year regulatory period must be detailed in their TSS. For trials in the second to fifth years of the regulatory period, the AER has to be notified 4 months before the start of the regulatory year in which the trial will occur. The AER has created a notification template for distributors to submit potential tariff trials as part of their annual pricing proposals:
AER - Tariff trial notification template
Tariff trial notifications submitted to the AER will be published.