Nexa does not support Ausgrid’s Community Power Network trial waiver request. It is a disingenuous and poorly conceived proposal, and we urge the AER to reject it.
While Ausgrid has identified many worthy objectives in its proposal – such as accelerating consumer energy resource (CER) uptake, addressing equity concerns, and reducing emissions – Ausgrid has not made a compelling case for why it must own and operate CER assets to deliver these objectives.
The proposal appears to reverse-engineer its rationale: selecting a desired outcome (DNSP ownership and control of CER) and then backfilling the objectives and learnings to justify it. As presented, the trial lacks genuine innovation and fails to demonstrate that it will deliver the outcomes it claims.
Many of the identified challenges are already being addressed – or can be more effectively addressed – through:
- the vibrant and evolving competitive CER market;
- government policy initiatives and ongoing regulatory reform;
- incentives in the existing regulatory framework; and
- DNSP-initiated improvements in tariff design and pricing, connection processes and data transparency.
Granting a ring-fencing waiver would not serve the long-term interests of consumers. It would set a damaging precedent, undermine trust at a time when trust levels are already low, and risk undermining all the progress made in developing a competitive CER market.
Consumers deserve solutions that build trust, stimulate competition and respect their autonomy – not proposals that seek to bypass them.
We encourage the AER to reject this proposal and instead focus the resources on addressing the barriers of CER as we have previously highlighted that is currently in the AER remit. These include:
- Address other barriers to facilitate CER uptake
- Address other barriers specific to C&I CER uptake
- Ensure competitive neutrality by strengthening enforcement of the existing ring-fencing provisions and enhancing the ring-fencing waiver process
- Undertake an independent review of distribution networks and address the capex bias
Read our submission here: Nexa Advisory submission – Ausgrid Comminuty Power Network sandbox proposal