Today the Reliability Panel published updated guidelines for the reliability and emergency reserve trader (RERT).

The RERT is the national electricity market’s emergency reserve – it has always been part of the market’s reliability safety net – and is used by the system operator, AEMO, as a last-resort mechanism to keep the lights on.

In May 2019 the Commission published new rules to enhance the RERT framework so that AEMO has the flexibility to effectively protect the reliability of the national electricity market while minimising costs to consumers.

As part of the new RERT rules, the Panel was required to update its RERT guidelines, which provide additional guidance to AEMO on how to operate the emergency reserve framework.  For example, the RERT guidelines set out the type of information AEMO must take into account when using emergency reserves, and the actions that AEMO may take to be satisfied that emergency reserves are out of market.

The final report published today sets out the changes to the RERT Guidelines. Consistent with the terms of reference published by the Commission, these changes are limited to updates required to reflect the Enhanced RERT final rule.

The revised Guidelines are published as a separate document.

Media: Bronwyn Rosser; 0423 280 341 or bronwyn.rosser@aemc.gov.au