Making sure consumers have power when they need it is a key focus for the Commission as the national electricity market continues down the path of rapid change. This week, we are publishing a package of work that addresses power system reliability and security.

We reach a new milestone for the national electricity market today with our draft rule to introduce a wholesale demand response mechanism. This hands the market a new and potentially much more affordable tool to manage security and reliability. We are pleased to be able to bring this work forward, so that large energy consumers can routinely bid their demand response into the market by next October and in time for the 2021/22 summer.

Also today, we publish a new rule to help strengthen power reliability in Victoria. We have agreed to a request from Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio to allow AEMO to enter into multi-year electricity contracts under the Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) mechanism for a limited period of time. This will allow Victoria to address reliability gaps as it deals with challenges caused by its specific generation profile.

The latest Annual Market Performance Review is also published today from the Reliability Panel – a group of experts which monitors power system reliability and reports the results annually to the AEMC and participating jurisdictions.

The panel’s latest report finds that while the reliability standard was not breached during the previous year, it is becoming more challenging to maintain as the supply/demand balance tightens, especially on high temperature/high demand days. And while it also recognises major challenges ahead for system security, it highlights the incredible potential of new technologies and business models to help address these challenges. 

The data portal, which accompanies this report, contains nearly 70 charts to present the report’s information in a useful and user-friendly way.

There is much more work underway at the Commission on reliability and security. As always, we are engaging extensively with stakeholders in this work and I look forward to sharing the outcomes with you in the coming months.

John Pierce AO

AEMC Chair