AGL recently responded to Treasury’s consultation paper on proposed priority datasets for energy under the Consumer Data Right (CDR).

The CDR framework has been designed to empower consumers and help them make informed choices which will drive industry innovation. In August, the CDR legislation was passed to pave the way for the banking sector designation in February 2020. Much of the focus until now has been on the legislation and on banking implementation.

Under the CDR legislation, a sector will be designated by the Federal Treasurer by a designation instrument. This designation instrument is drafted by Treasury, and includes information relating to that sector, who will be deemed a relevant data holder, when designation takes effect, and general categories of datasets to be designated. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will then be responsible for determining the CDR Rules that apply to each designated sector, which includes further detail on datasets, matters relating to consents gathering, reporting, records management and so forth. This has occurred for banking, and we are now entering the second phase of CDR which focuses on the energy sector.

The ACCC recently released a paper on the model for energy CDR which supported the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) as the designated gateway. AGL looks forward to working with ACCC and AEMO to work on the details of this gateway model. In preparation of developing a draft designation instrument for energy, Treasury is consulting with industry on priority energy datasets. In the consultation paper, Treasury proposes six broad priority energy data sets to be designated:

1. NMI standing data
2. Metering data
3. Billing data
4. Retail product information data
5. Customer provided data
6. Distributed Energy Resource data

In our response to Treasury, we focus on two topics:

1. The proposed priority energy datasets – this includes an assessment of each of the proposed high-level categories and highlighting potential issues. These include determining who is a relevant data holder, the purpose of those data holders having data, and the way that data can be linked to a consumer. We also assess potential privacy risks, verification concerns, and matters that require further consideration or information for stakeholders.
2. Draft energy designation instrument – this is a high-level view on matters that we encourage Treasury to consider prior to releasing a draft designation instrument for the energy sector. These include questions on eligible customers, that large and multisite customers should be excluded, timeframes, and added complexities regarding authentication and verification of consumers in the energy sector.

We highlight a number of complexities and differences that are unique in the energy sector, that will require a different type of approach by Treasury and the ACCC when applying the CDR to energy. For this reason, we encourage Treasury and the ACCC to consult in an ongoing and engaged way with energy participants and consumers to ensure the CDR framework is fit-for-purpose. Ongoing engagement will help ensure that draft positions are informed with a range of views, to help ensure more meaningful stakeholder participation on informed Treasury and ACCC positions.

You can read our full submission here.

AGL has also made several public submissions on CDR which can be accessed through the AGL Hub.