Nexa Advisory welcomes the opportunity to contribute to DEECA’s Updating Victoria’s electricity metering framework consultation.
We support the proposed package of changes to Victoria’s AMI framework, following the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) flexible trading arrangements (FTA) reforms to enable efficient operation of Consumer Energy Resources (CER).
Nexa considers that while the AMI framework is currently open for consultation on metering, it should also address related issues arising from this review. This includes the treatment of public electric vehicle (EV) charging as a new flexible load class that will challenge Victoria’s existing metering, connection, and tariff frameworks.
We recommend that DEECA use this opportunity to:
- Introduce clearer, enforceable service level standards for EV charger connections and a genuine contestable ‘accredited service provider (ASP)-style’ model (similar to that in New South Wales) to reduce delivery bottlenecks in connection works;
- Undertake complementary tariff reforms – including use of an Order in Council under the AMI derogation to strengthen EV demand charge protections; and
- Introduce a new Tariff Order (under s 15A of the Electricity Industry Act 2000) to enable dedicated EV tariffs and simpler, flexibility-oriented time-of-use (TOU) structures.
These recommendations are directly relevant to this consultation because contestable metering for Secondary Settlement Points (SSPs) and Type 9 meters will not translate into faster rollout of CER or better consumer outcomes unless connection delivery and tariff signals are aligned to support scalable deployment.
Read our submission here: Nexa Advisory submission – DEECA VIC Metering Framework