The AEMC has released proposals to open up the wholesale electricity market so large consumers can be more easily paid for reducing their demand on the power system. The wholesale demand response mechanism draft rule is in response to requests received from the Total Environment Centre, The Australia Institute and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre; the Australian Energy Council and the South Australian Government.
The Commission has extended the time for making a final rule and final determination for the Wholesale demand response mechanism rule change request until 5 December 2019. This extension is necessary due to complexity and the volume of issues raised by stakeholders in submissions in relation to how the rule is put in place in the regulatory framework.
It will also allow the Commission to:
- convene a technical working group meeting on Friday 11 October, and more effectively incorporate feedback from the technical working group into the final determination and rule
- work through the volume of detailed issues raised by stakeholders about how the wholesale demand response mechanism is embedded in the regulatory framework.
Submissions to draft determination
The Commission received 37 submissions from a range of stakeholders including consumer representatives, demand response service providers, generators, retailers, network service providers, industry associations, AEMO and the AER. All submissions are published on the project page on our website.
Draft determination
The draft determination, published in July 2019, sets out a number of changes to introduce a wholesale demand response mechanism. The draft rule:
- introduces a new market participant category, a demand response service provider (DRSP)
- places obligations on DRSPs that, as much as practicable, replicate those applied to scheduled generators, for example, similar information provision obligations
- sets out a process for having baseline methodologies determined and applied
- provides for DRSPs to be settled in the wholesale market for demand response
- makes additional changes to related aspects of the rules, such as the demand side participation information provisions, to improve the integration of the demand side.
These rule change requests are being progressed as part of the Commission’s broader system security and reliability action plan.
Media: Prudence Anderson, Communication Director, 0404 821 935 or (02) 8296 7817