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

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

Demand flexibility has tremendous potential to lower energy costs and improve affordability.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face considerable challenges to receiving good consumer outcomes in the energy sector.

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 engaged Boardroom Energy to better understand the 'Risks to gas consumers of declining gas demand'

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.

As the dispatchable storage market is in its early stages of development with several technical, commercial, social and regulatory barriers to overcome, it makes sense to consider how network service providers (NSPs) can play a valuable role to help further develop this niche.

We are pleased to see the proposed three models in the review paper aim to address this change, and at times propose ambitious steps away from the status quo to consider consumer protections in a new light

This reform is crucial to ensuring the market is designed in a way that aligns with the Integrated System Plan and that the market appropriately signals the right combination of new renewable energy generation, new storage and firming resources, and new transmission.