Draft rule to reduce risk of power outages

Over the past few years, hundreds of thousands of Australians have been affected by long-duration power outages caused by severe storms, bushfires and floods.

With climate change only expected to increase the frequency and intensity of these events, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has made a draft rule to increase network resilience.

By explicitly recognising distribution network resilience in the national electricity rules, the new draft rule aims to help distribution network service providers (DNSPs) to efficiently reduce these risks. The changes would give DNSPs greater regulatory clarity to guide their planning and investments in network resilience, and assist customers who are impacted by power outages caused by severe weather events.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) would be responsible for developing, publishing and maintaining formal Network Resilience Guidelines. DNSPs would also need to comply with proposed new planning and reporting requirements to ensure that resilience expenditure is efficient and transparent, while delivering satisfactory outcomes for consumers.

AEMC Chair Anna Collyer said the draft rule was developed in the long-term interests of customers.

“More extreme weather is an unfortunate reality that leaves electricity networks and the communities they power more vulnerable,” she said.

“This framework would support DNSPs in efficiently planning and investing in network resilience, while providing clearer guidelines to support consumers impacted by power outages caused by extreme weather.”

The draft rule is part of a larger program of work designed to reduce the impacts of climate change on the energy grid. The program includes the Victorian Government’s two expert panel reviews into network and community resilience in response to separate severe weather events that left hundreds of thousands of people without power in the state — in some cases for several weeks.

The AER also recently established a ‘Value of Network Resilience’ review in order to understand the value customers place on network resilience; this would be complemented by the draft rule.

For more information about the resilience arrangements proposed in the draft rule, or to provide feedback, visit the project page.

Image credit: iStock.com/Chad Ajamian