30% increases will be hard to absorb for consumers already struggling with rising energy costs.

Robust consumer protections such as the DMO are needed to safeguard consumers from unjustifiably high price increases.

The flexible trading arrangement (FTA) rule change, proposed by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), has been positioned as a way consumers can access more value from their CER, by incentivising flexible demand that can support the operation of the system, while not needing to change their behaviour for their everyday electricity use.

We advocate for policy measures that address both the short and long term, to ensure we are responding to the immediate need, as well as supporting and empowering consumers as we build for the future.

We commend the AEMO team on the effort and time taken to produce an IASR that is clearly a step forward from previous versions.

We make 5 key recommendations to the AEMC in our submission:

Empowering consumers to take control of their energy use requires effort and commitment, which is the opportunity provided by the National Energy Performance Strategy.

There is a broader need to ensure that the energy policy framework delivers social as well as economic and environmental outcomes, particularly through the energy transition.

It is essential that the Program and the AER class waiver enable other potential actors to enter the market, contribute to removing existing barriers to broader uptake, and promote innovation and competition in the sector