The AER has decided not to update the interim Retailer Reliability Obligation Guidelines.
A key consideration in this decision was the release of the final report in the National Electricity Market wholesale market settings review in December 2025.
That report recommended that the Retailer Reliability Obligation be phased out following the implementation of an Electricity Services Entry Mechanism (ESEM) and Market Making Obligation (MMO).
The reforms proposed in the report are currently being considered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, following Energy Ministers’ in-principle agreement in December 2025.
In forming this view, we considered that any benefits of updating the interim Guidelines would be minimal given the broader context of the changing policy landscape and high demand for stakeholder time.
Background
The AER maintains a series of guidelines related to the Retailer Reliability Obligation which is designed to support reliability in the National Electricity Market, including the:
- interim Contracts and Firmness Guidelines (C&F Guidelines)
- interim Market Liquidity Obligation Guidelines (MLO Guidelines), and
- interim Reliability Instrument Guidelines (RI Guidelines).
In late 2024, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) made two rule changes that required the AER to review the C&F Guidelines by 3 December 2025 and 30 September 2026, respectively.
On 20 August 2025, the AER made its final decision to amend the C&F Guidelines in response to the AEMC’s Retailer Reliability Obligation exemption for scheduled bi-directional units rule.
At that time, we committed to conduct a broader review of the C&F Guidelines, MLO Guidelines and RI Guidelines in 2026.
Following this review, we have made the decision not to update the guidelines while proposed reforms are being considered.
Stakeholders with questions about the guidelines can contact RRO
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (RRO[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).