In October 2013 the Standing Council on Energy and Resources (SCER) - now the COAG energy council submitted a rule change request seeking to establish arrangements that would promote competition in the provision of metering and related services in the National Electricity Market (NEM). SCER considered that the current arrangements were inhibiting commercial investment in metering technologies that support the uptake of demand side participation (DSP) products and services.
Consultation paper
On 28 May 2014 we provided a submission in response to AEMC's consultation paper released 17 April 2014. The submission comments on a range of issues, but broadly supports reforms that seek to remove exclusivity in the provision of metering and related services in NEM, facilitating competition where this can deliver greater efficiency benefits, innovation and choice for consumers.
Draft determination
On 18 May 2015 we provided a submission in response to the AEMC's draft determination published on 26 March 2015. The submission support a number of key aspects of the draft determination including:
- removing exclusivity in who can be a “Metering Coordinator” and be responsible for providing meters and services to consumers.
- additional consumer protections
- introducing a national minimum specification for meters
-
minimising regulation at this early stage of market reform, with the intent of revisiting various issues as part of a later review of competition in metering
AER submission to AEMC - expanding competition in metering draft determination - 18 May 2015
Additional consultation
On 17 September 2015, the AEMC published a paper for additional consultation on specific issues on the Competition in Metering rule change. We provided a submission in response to the additional consultation on 30 September. Our submission addresses issues of distributor investments in meter alterations and network devices.
AER submissions to AEMC - consultation on specific metering issues - 30 September 2015
More information
More information on the AEMC rule change can be found on the AEMC website.