The AER has added a new approach to regulatory sandboxing to our toolkit.
This approach builds on the existing Energy Innovation Toolkit and Innovation Enquiry Service
The Innovation Enquiry Service (IES) provides innovators with informal guidance on how their new technologies or business models can be delivered under current energy regulation. This includes what energy regulation and market entry requirements might apply to your project, options that exist to adapt your business idea to progress under current energy frameworks, what energy bodies you might need to contact, as well as what processes and applications you might need to undertake, and why. For more information about what the IES does and does not provide, please see our About page, and our IES process page.
functions which have been in operation since 2022. These functions will remain open and available to innovators.
It is delivered in conjunction with project partners
The Energy Innovation Toolkit’s Project Partners are the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), the Essential Services Commission (ESC), the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). For more information on Project Partner roles and responsibilities, please see our about page and our trials page.
at the Australian Energy Market Commission
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) is an independent statutory body that works for Australia's future productivity and living standards by contributing to a decarbonising, affordable and reliable energy system for consumers. The AEMC makes and amends the National Electricity Rules (NER), the National Gas Rules (NGR), and the National Energy Retail Rules (NERR), and manages the rule change process. The AEMC does this in accordance with the national energy objectives, the central focus of which is the long-term interests of consumers. They also provide market development advice to governments.
, Australian Energy Market Operator
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) manages electricity and gas systems and markets across Australia, helping to ensure Australians have access to affordable, secure and reliable energy. Ownership of AEMO was – and still is – shared between government and industry, with members representing federal and state governments, as well as generation and production, distribution, retail and resources businesses across Australia. AEMO has always operated on a user-pays cost-recovery basis, and it recovers all operating costs through fees paid by industry participants.
, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) supports the global transition to net zero emissions by accelerating the pace of pre-commercial innovation, to the benefit of Australian consumers, businesses and workers. Since 2012, ARENA has supported 612 projects with $1.81 billion in grant funding, unlocking a total investment of almost $7.9 billion in Australia’s renewable energy industry. ARENA’s expertise, deep understanding of the renewable energy sector and willingness to fund innovative and ground-breaking projects mean it provides a pathway to commercialisation for many new technologies and businesses that would otherwise struggle to get off the ground or be potentially lost to overseas markets.
, and the Essential Services Commission
The Essential Services Commission (ESC) is an independent regulator that promotes the long-term interests of Victorian consumers with respect to the price, quality and reliability of essential services. In Victoria, the ESC has responsibility for licensing and licence exemptions in the electricity and gas markets. The ESC licenses various activities including electricity and gas retail and distribution, electricity transmission, and electricity generation. The ESC also makes and enforces customer protections and other rules predominately in the electricity and gas retail and distribution markets in Victoria, where the National Energy Retail Law (NERL) and the National Energy Retail Rules (NERR) don't apply.
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Under these functions, innovative approaches to solving problems with the energy framework can be tested. The AER can grant a time-limited trial waiver
The Regulatory Sandboxing trial waiver function allows the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) to grant a time limited trial waiver for eligible trial projects, exempting an innovator from having to comply with specified rules for a period of time to allow a trial to proceed. The Victorian Regulatory Sandboxing trial waiver function allows Essential Services Commission (ESC) to issue trial waivers providing time limited relief from Victorian energy frameworks. For more information, please see our trials page and the AER's Trial Projects Guidelines.
for eligible trial projects, exempting an innovator from having to comply with specified laws and rules for a period of time to allow a trial to proceed. A trial rule change
Regulatory Sandboxing legislation will provide the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) with a new power to make temporary rule changes to allow trials to proceed. This could be used to temporarily amend existing rules or to temporarily introduce a new rule of limited application. In deciding whether to make a trial rule, the AEMC must take into account the list of principles established in the Regulatory Sandboxing innovative trial principles, and the requirements listed in the Regulatory Sandboxing eligibility requirements, to determine whether a proposed trial rule is genuinely innovative. For more information about the innovative trial principles and eligibility requirements as they apply under the Energy Rules to both trial rule changes and trial waiver requests, please see the Australian Energy Regulator's Trial Projects Guidelines.
process allows the AEMC to temporarily change existing rules or introduce a new rule to allow a trial to proceed. Through these trial processes, we can run temporary changes of regulatory framework, to enable ideas to be tested.
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