On 18 May 2026, the AER published a consultation paper seeking stakeholder views on the AER’s proposal to amend the Network Exemptions Guideline and the Retail Exempt Selling Guideline to:
- reflect new energy rules relating to secondary settlement points and flexible metering flexible trading reforms and ensure our exemptions guidance remains clear and consistent
- reduce unnecessary regulatory burden for commercial embedded network retrofits while maintaining appropriate consumer protections for embedded network customers.
Our review is limited to the confined scope proposed in our consultation paper and does not propose to revisit the policy intent of the flexible trading rule change or the broader objectives of the exemptions framework.
Background
Under the National Electricity Law, any person or business who owns, controls or operates an electricity network, must be registered as a network service provider with the Australian Energy Market Operator or be subject to a network exemption from the AER. Under the National Energy Retail Law, any person or business who sells energy to another person for use at premises must have either a retailer authorisation or a retail exemption.
The AER can issue exemptions to individuals or classes of persons and subject those exemptions to specific conditions as set out in the Retail Exempt Selling Guideline and the Network Exemptions Guideline. These guidelines set out processes for registering and applying for exemptions and describe the different exemption categories along with their eligibility requirements. They also outline the AER’s policy approach to assessing exemption applications and determining exemption classes and conditions.
Have your say
We invite stakeholders to provide feedback on the draft by close of business Monday, 15 June 2026.