The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has published the final response to the consultation that was undertaken on the flexible export limits issues paper from October – December 2022. The final response is part of the AER’s work to identify and clarify the regulatory arrangements needed to support the efficient implementation and uptake of flexible export limits across the National Electricity Market.
Flexible export limits can provide the opportunity for consumers to achieve greater value from their consumer energy resource investments (such as solar panels and batteries), through potentially greater export levels onto the grid.
The final response paper proposes a set of priority actions to establish a framework which includes:
- Improving the provision of information to electricity consumers on flexible export limits to help build consumer awareness and trust
- Initiation of a rule change proposal to provide the AER with the appropriate head of powers to develop and publish a binding Export Limit Guideline governing methodologies for export capacity allocation and provision of information to consumers
- Development and publication of interim guidance on export limits, to establish expectations for the operation of both static and flexible export limits.
The AER will now commence implementing these priority actions.
Background
This project was undertaken under the Energy Security Board’s Consumer Energy Resources Implementation Plan that sought to effectively integrate consumer energy resources, such as rooftop solar and batteries, into the National Electricity Market.
The flexible export limits response relates closely to other reviews being undertaken by market bodies as part of the Consumer Energy Resources Implementation Plan. One is the Australian Energy Market Commission’s review of consumer energy resources technical standards and the other is the ESB’s directions paper for interoperability policy.