Wholesale demand response mechanism consultation paper

PIAC responded to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) consultation paper concerning a three proposed rule-changes to implement demand response in the National Energy Market (NEM).

PIAC responded to the AEMC’s consultation paper regarding the three wholesale demand response mechanism rule changes across two submissions. As a joint proposer, PIAC fully supports the rule proposed by PIAC, the Total Environment Centre (TEC) and the Australia Institute (TAI). Our submission provides further detail on a number of issues with PIAC’s joint proposal raised in the consultation paper. We also respond to questions raised by the AEMC. PIAC outlines the following key points in our submission:

• PIAC supports the South Australian government’s proposal but considers there are better transitional options to help managed costs
• PIAC does not support the Australian Energy Council’s proposal and considers it a tokenistic reform that will maintain retailers’ veto power over customer involvement in the demand response market
• Access to demand response is currently very limited and a recent burst of ad-hoc DR activity from a small number of retailers appears to be an attempt to head off the demand response reform process.
• Demand response should be treated similar to generators
• The issues of baselining and scheduling are all solvable