We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Energy Security Board’s (ESB) Governance of DER Technical Standards Consultation Paper (the ESB Paper).

We support the proposed new coordinating governance arrangements that will be in the form of a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Standards Governance Committee under the National Electricity Rules (NER), convened by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC). The transition of the energy system that is underway will require fit-for-purpose technical standards, and the DER Standards Governance Committee is likely to be better placed to determine the required technical standards that align with policy reforms in a timely way.

We see it as critical that the focus of the DER Standards Governance Committee is national because, as the ESB Paper identifies there is a vast potential for the more than 11 million residential and small business consumers (across the NEM and in other jurisdictions) to change their behaviour, in relation to the use of their appliances and their generation and home energy storage assets, to benefit themselves and the energy system overall.

We also suggest that the CEO of Energy Consumers Australia, or their delegate, be included as a member of the DER Standards Governance Committee.

To read the full submission, click here.

To read our Submission to the National Electricity Amendement (Technical Standards for Distributed Energy Resources) Rule 2020 click here and to read our Submission to the AEMO Initial Distributed Energy Resource Minimum Technical Standards Issues Paper click here.