The AEMC, which sets the rules for the National Electricity Market (NEM), has been consulting with stakeholders on possible changes to the metering approach that would recognise the metering capabilities of devices like smart street lighting controls. Such changes would allow councils and main road authorities to benefit financially from the energy savings if they dim, trim and enable constant light output controls on LED street lights.
The AEMC recently published a Directions Paper and is seeking stakeholder feedback on a number of questions related to this matter by 14 September 2023.
In its Directions Paper, the AEMC suggests that there are opportunities to improve existing arrangements for the measurement of street lighting and other similar electricity consuming devices in the public domain. Some of the benefits they identified include:
- Reducing barriers to enable innovation and competition
- Improving cost allocation and energy settlement
- Energy efficiency and emissions reduction
- Improved upkeep of street lighting services
In February 2023, IPWEA made a submission to the AEMC calling for reform of the approach to the metering of street lighting (copy available here). IPWEA’s submission was supported by a number of other associations, regional council groupings, individual councils, road authorities and equipment suppliers.
The IPWEA February submission argued that there is a broad and compelling public benefits case to introduce a simple, effective and efficient regime that recognises the metering capabilities of smart street lighting controls and encourages their widespread adoption across some 2.5 million street lights and other similar smart city devices. This case is supported by solid precedent internationally as similar reforms have been a key enabler of widespread adoption in markets such as the United Kingdom, parts the United States and in New Zealand.
Such reform would not only greatly improve metering accuracy in this largely unmetered segment of the electricity market but also deliver energy savings, maintenance savings, road and public safety improvements, a range of environmental gains and many other benefits.
In its February submission, IPWEA noted that a key feature of successful regulatory reforms elsewhere is that they adopted a low cost and streamlined version of their metering regime to apply to smart street lighting controls, setting aside or modifying aspects of their regimes that are not relevant to the nature of the small loads being measured.
IPWEA therefore welcomed proposals to set-aside a number of aspects of the current NEM metering approach and suggested that further consideration should be given to other aspects that may not be relevant, necessary or could inadvertently impose unreasonable, complex and costly requirements on a Minor Energy Flow Metering approach that would discourage widespread adoption.
IPWEA is currently engaging with other stakeholders on how best to respond to the AEMC Directions Paper by the 14 September deadline. If you would like to join the industry-wide effort to push for reform in this area, please contact Graham Mawer, IPWEA Emerging Technology Adviser at Mobile 0412 229 544 or at Email graham.mawer@ipwea.org.
