The Essential Services Commission is currently consulting on its Regulatory sandboxing – Trial Project Guideline.

AGL strongly supports establishing a nationally harmonised regulatory sandboxing framework. We engaged closely with the Australian Energy Market Commission in its development of proposed reforms to implement regulatory sandbox arrangements.

We believe the regulatory sandbox package of reforms will provide an important opportunity to accelerate the development of technologies and business models in the national energy markets to deliver greater benefits to consumers.

As the Essential Services Commission considers implementation in the Victorian context, it is important that the framework:

• Facilitates timely applications from across the entire energy supply chain for both new entrants and existing market participants to support competitive neutrality and maximise the benefits of innovation to serve the long-term interests of consumers; and
• Aligns with the national framework to support a harmonised and complementary approach to trialling innovative technologies and business models.

AGL made a formal submission elaborating a range of recommendations to enhance the Victorian framework, a copy of which is available here.