Energy Consumers Australia welcomes the opportunity to comment on the transmission access reform Consultation Paper

The access reform work strand seeks to promote investment certainty, manage access risk, boost operational efficiency and incentivise technologies that alleviate congestion.

In our view, a well-designed transmission access reform will reduce the need for unnecessary investments in transmission and generation, incentivise the location and optimal investment in storage capacity and reduce future total system costs, which ultimately will be passed through as savings to consumers.

As consumers directly pay for the network – while generators and renewable developers do not – they have a stronger interest in all capacity in the grid being efficiently planned and operated.

Effective transmission access reform:

• aligns with the Integrated System Plan,
• provides clear, transparent prices to improve investment and operational decisions, and
• offers market-based signals to build the energy storage the system needs.

Energy Consumers Australia supports the Congestion Market Mechanism (CMM) and Connection Zones with Connection Fees options in the Consultation Paper because they will deliver the benefits that effective transmission access reform offers.

Read our full submission here