The Act
The Electricity Supply Act 1995 (Act) establishes:
- the Energy Savings Scheme (ESS) under Part 1 of Schedule 4A to the Act
- The Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS) under Part 2 of Schedule 4A to the Act.
It sets out the legal framework of each scheme, sets out requirements of scheme participants and includes the functions and responsibilities of IPART as Scheme Administrator and Scheme Regulator.
The Regulation
The Electricity Supply (General) Regulation 2014 (Regulation) supports the Act and provides additional requirements and more detail about the core functions of the Scheme Administrator and the Scheme Regulator in:
- Part 6 Energy savings scheme of the Regulation
- Part 7 Peak demand reduction scheme of the Regulation.
Together the Act and Regulation:
- define the compliance period for each scheme and who is required to participate in each scheme (scheme participants)
- define how scheme targets are calculated and how scheme participants meet these targets. It also specifies penalties for not meeting the target and how these penalties are determined.
- allow for exemptions to be granted under each scheme.
- requires scheme participants to report on compliance with their obligations and define how to report. They also set out the conditions for the assessment of compliance of scheme participants. This includes self-assessment, default assessment and amended assessment.
- allows the Scheme Regulator to require audits of scheme participants.
PDRS Compliance Rule
The Peak Demand Reduction Scheme Compliance Rule of 2022 (PDRS Compliance Rule) relates to the PDRS scheme only. It supports the Act and sets out:
- how the Scheme Regulator must calculate the forecast peak demand for the PDRS compliance period
- the method scheme participants must use to determine the PDRS individual liable demand where electricity is not purchased from AEMO and not measured by an interval meter.