The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today published a draft Market Monitoring Information Order (MMIO-ELEC-2025-02) and accompanying Explanatory Statement for consultation.
This draft Order follows consultation on a previous draft Order (MMIO-ELEC-2025-01) in November and December 2024, after we published our Wholesale Market Monitoring Guideline in November 2024.
We received comprehensive feedback during this previous consultation and, given the enduring nature of the Order, the AER decided not to make MMIO-ELEC-2025-01 while we continued to consider the feedback received.
In April 2025, the AER announced this decision and advised that we would be conducting further engagement on new draft Orders, the first of which is MMIO-ELEC-2025-02.
Access to contracts and related information will provide visibility of the underlying drivers influencing market participants’ behaviour, whether wholesale market outcomes reflect effective competition in those markets, and whether wholesale markets are operating efficiently.
It will also provide valuable insights into how contract markets interact with spot markets, and how retail markets are impacted by wholesale markets.
Our improved market understanding will be used to expand and enhance our existing suite of reports, and provide timely and transparent information to market participants, policy makers and consumers throughout and beyond the energy transition.
Consultation
We are seeking stakeholder feedback and views on the clarity of questions and requirements outlined in the Order, the burden and costs associated with responding to the Order and the proposed response due dates.
Interested parties are invited to make a written submission via email to ContractMarketMonitoring
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (ContractMarketMonitoring[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au), with the subject line ‘Wholesale Market Monitoring and Reporting – MMIO-ELEC-2025-02 submission’ by close of business, 04 November 2025.
Alternatively, submissions can be mailed to:
Fiona Hooymans
General Manager, Market Surveillance Branch
Australian Energy Regulator
GPO Box 3131
Canberra ACT 2601
The AER prefers that all submissions be publicly available to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process.
Submissions will be treated as public documents unless marked confidential. Parties wishing to submit confidential information are requested to:
- clearly identify the information that is the subject of the confidentiality claim; and
- provide a non-confidential version of the submission in a form suitable for publication.
All non-confidential submissions must be placed on the AER’s website. For further information on the AER’s use and disclosure of information provided to it, see the ACCC/AER Information Policy, June 2014.
Enquiries about this draft Order and/or the accompanying Explanatory Statement, or about lodging submissions, should be directed to the ContractMarketMonitoringaer [dot] gov [dot] au (ContractMarketMonitoring[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) with the subject line ‘Draft Order MMIO-ELEC-2025-02 enquiry’.
Background
One of the AER’s key functions is to monitor and report on the performance of wholesale markets.
We deliver this function through a range of reports that provide timely information underpinned by expert and transparent analysis.
Our regular reporting exists to provide confidence in our energy systems, support efficient decision making by market participants, and enable well-informed decision making by policy makers.
To date, we have relied primarily on public information to assess the performance of wholesale markets.
This information provides us with an understanding of market participants’ conduct, and outcomes in wholesale markets. However, publicly available information provides very limited visibility of participants’ contracting behaviour.
Through the collection and monitoring of contract related information we will build a more holistic view of wholesale markets which will significantly improve our capability to evaluate performance, competition and efficiency in these markets.
In November 2024, we published the Wholesale Market Monitoring Guideline, which sets out the AER’s general approach to its expanded functions in monitoring and reporting on electricity contract markets, including information collection.