On 26 June 2025, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), published a consultation paper examining the Integrated distribution system planning (IDSP) rule change request from Energy Consumers Australia (ECA).
Under the proposed rule change, the existing Distribution Annual Planning Report would be replaced with a biennial IDSP alternating with the AEMO Integrated System Plan, requiring Distribution Network Service Providers (DNSPs) to undertake a more comprehensive planning review over a longer planning horizon.
Key elements of the proposal include requirements on DNSPs to:
- increase transparency of hosting capacity with new network utilisation metrics,
- consult with a broader range of stakeholders, and
- publish more data along with a Data and Insights Roadmap to outline how they would improve compliance and capabilities of publishing granular data.
The rule change request aims to address potential issues with the existing distribution annual planning process in the context of increasing Consumer Energy Resources and Distributed Energy Resources penetration.
The AER made a submission to the consultation paper on 29 July 2025.
On 16 October 2025, the AEMC published a directions paper setting out three different approaches to improve distribution planning in the National Electricity Rules. The AER made a submission to the directions paper on 17 November 2025.