Monitoring and enforcement functions of the Australian Energy Regulator
The AER monitors, investigates and enforces compliance with the national energy framework, comprising the National Electricity Law (Electricity Law) and National Electricity Rules (Electricity Rules), the National Gas Law (Gas Law) and National Gas Rules (Gas Rules) and associated regulations. The AER’s core functions and powers in relation to monitoring, investigation and enforcement are set out in section 15 of the Electricity Law and section 27 of the Gas Law.
The AER’s compliance and enforcement strategy is set out in the publication "Compliance and Enforcement – Statement of Approach". A copy of the AER compliance and enforcement statement of approach is available for downloading.
Compliance and market monitoring
The AER continuously monitors activity in the gas and electricity wholesale markets, including bidding and rebidding, dispatch and prices, network constraints and outages, demand forecasts and forecasts of production and capacity. The AER also monitors and reports on market events. These reports include:
maintaining a market snapshot on the AER website, including up-to-date information on the wholesale electricity market
weekly reporting, including details of market outcomes for each week
preparing reports when the spot price exceeds $5000/MWh.
We publish quarterly reports on the outcomes of our compliance monitoring
Enforcement
The AER can take enforcement action against participants that are in breach of the national energy framework. In taking enforcement action, the AER aims to:
ensure that the offending conduct stops, so that any damage occurring in the market is minimised
prevent the offending conduct from recurring
clarify interpretation of the national energy framework
in appropriate circumstances, penalise offenders.
These objectives help us to assess what, if any, enforcement action to take.
The AER considers a number of factors when deciding whether to take enforcement action against a participant, and what the nature of that action will be. These factors are discussed in our statement of approach.
