On 30 August 2012, the AEMC published a final rule and associated final rule determination on market schedule variation transactions in the short term trading market for gas. The rule change was requested by AEMO.

The rule enables users in the short term trading market (STTM) to submit market schedule variations (MSVs) to AEMO. As a result, direct MSVs between users in the STTM are now possible.

MSVs are an important mechanism for participants in the STTM to avoid deviation penalties. The rule published today reduces the number of transactions needed to complete a user-to-user MSV. It increases efficiency with which these MSVs can be undertaken and gives more flexibility in how MSVs can be processed.
The rule commences 19 March 2013.