Nexa Advisory

Australia’s Energy Market Governance Needs Bold Reform. The recent Select Committee on Energy Planning and Regulation in Australia offers an opportunity to achieve this. In our submission, we discussed that Australia’s energy market governance is outdated and has failed to keep pace with the innovative new technologies and shifting consumer preferences. This is not only slowing down Australia’s energy transition, but also contributing to missed opportunities to empower consumers and support competition and innovation. Our recommendations, grounded in industry consultation and expert analysis, outline a path to a more forward-thinking and consumer-centric energy governance model. Key Recommendations for Reform: 1️⃣ Publish a renewed Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) led by State and Federal Energy Ministers, outlining national coordination across governments to provide certainty around the delivery of the required generation, storage, and transmission projects. 2️⃣ Set refreshed Statements of Expectations for AEMC, AER, and AEMO, with annual reviews to ensure alignment with strategic objectives. 3️⃣ Establish an independent review of the Boards of AER, AEMC, AEMO, and Energy Consumer Australia to ensure they possess the right skills, clarity of roles, and independence. 4️⃣ Create a new, independent consumer voice to represent the interests of emerging energy consumers in policy and decision-making. 5️⃣ Conduct an independent review of the role and performance of electricity distribution networks, evaluating their capacity to adapt and integrate consumer energy resources (CER) and ensuring governance arrangements deliver value for consumers. 6️⃣ Enhance the representation of innovators and investors within the governance framework to ensure transparency and inclusion of new business models. 7️⃣ Build social licence by incorporating consumer perspectives, restoring trust, and ensuring that market reforms are driven by consumer needs and expectations. Read our submission here: https://lnkd.in/gGGKKJQG

Australia’s Energy Market Governance Needs Bold Reform. The recent Select Committee on Energy Planning and Regulation in Australia offers an opportunity to achieve this. In our submission, we discussed that Australia’s energy market governance is outdated and has failed to keep pace with the innovative new technologies and shifting consumer preferences. This is not only slowing down Australia’s energy transition, but also contributing to missed opportunities to empower consumers and support competition and innovation. Our recommendations, grounded in industry consultation and expert analysis, outline a path to a more forward-thinking and consumer-centric energy governance model. Key Recommendations for Reform: 1️⃣ Publish a renewed Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) led by State and Federal Energy Ministers, outlining national coordination across governments to provide certainty around the delivery of the required generation, storage, and transmission projects. 2️⃣ Set refreshed Statements of Expectations for AEMC, AER, and AEMO, with annual reviews to ensure alignment with strategic objectives. 3️⃣ Establish an independent review of the Boards of AER, AEMC, AEMO, and Energy Consumer Australia to ensure they possess the right skills, clarity of roles, and independence. 4️⃣ Create a new, independent consumer voice to represent the interests of emerging energy consumers in policy and decision-making. 5️⃣ Conduct an independent review of the role and performance of electricity distribution networks, evaluating their capacity to adapt and integrate consumer energy resources (CER) and ensuring governance arrangements deliver value for consumers. 6️⃣ Enhance the representation of innovators and investors within the governance framework to ensure transparency and inclusion of new business models. 7️⃣ Build social licence by incorporating consumer perspectives, restoring trust, and ensuring that market reforms are driven by consumer needs and expectations. Read our submission here: https://lnkd.in/gGGKKJQG

Great to hear from The Hon. Matt Kean give the CCCA’s perspective on Australia’s priorities for the energy transition at the The Australian Financial Review Energy & Climate Summit. “Extending the life of ageing coal-fired power stations before nuclear plants can be built is a “wild fantasy” that would deter near-term investment in renewables and push up power bills.” What is clear is we must get on with it. Whatever the technical, financial, philosophical and political arguments to be had about nuclear, we must move forward in building renewable generation and storage and related transmission - the lights will not stay on if we extend ageing, and expensive and unreliable coal! All elements of the energy industry and investors are calling for policy certainty so they can get the job done. We have a clear path that is informed by experts, international experience, and our market operator. Political tactics and misinformation will damage confidence and social licence. We do not have the luxury of time to put our progress towards an inevitable transition on hold for six months of electioneering. Having a bipartisan support for policies on emissions and renewable energy transition isn’t just about being one of the grown adults on the world stage. It is absolutely key to ensuring Australians have energy security, reliability and affordability, now, in 2030, and for the future. Chris Bowen MP Jim Chalmers Lily D’Ambrosio MP Penny Sharpe Mick de Brenni David Crisafulli MP Zali Steggall OAM MP David Pocock Tim Buckley Smart Energy Council Nexa Advisory Peter Hannam The Guardian https://lnkd.in/g2nQbghf

Congratulations to Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen MP for the necessary announcement this morning to double down on net zero emissions renewables and storage. In his speech, the The Australian Financial Review #climate & energy summit, announced to super size the Capacity Investment Scheme auction with up to 10GW in total to accelerate the government’s program of underwriting renewable energy. This is to meet the overwhelming 50% oversubscription from project developers and in a renewed bid to get emissions reduction targets back on track. We cannot slow down! “The CIS is slated to provide 32 GW of storage and generation by 2030. Including Mr Bowen’s latest announcement, there is so far provision for 18 GW.” Transmission needs to be prioritised and accelerated to ensure we can build and connect this critical infrastructure as our ageing coal is closing down- critical to ensuring affordable and reliable energy in Australia. Minister Bowen “far and away, the biggest issue will be to continue to rely on our ageing coal power stations….. it’s a recipe for blackouts.” https://lnkd.in/gkbGCA4U Chris Bowen MP Tom Skladzien Jim Chalmers The Hon. Matt Kean Penny Sharpe Lily D’Ambrosio MP Nexa Advisory Tim Buckley Climate Energy Finance Smart Energy Council Clean Energy Investor Group Nexa Advisory

This is exciting to see! "The largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere has begun feeding into Victoria’s electricity grid, powering Victorian homes and businesses with cheap and reliable renewable energy." Evidence that there is huge progress and momentum in building the much needed replacement generation in Victoria. Congratulations to Lily D’Ambrosio MP and all involved.

As Australia's aging coal assets approach retirement, these outdated plants are facing increasing risks around their reliable operation.   Banks are increasingly divesting from fossil fuels due to #ESG concerns, shifting focus towards renewable energy projects. This divestment underscores the growing risks of coal assets in a rapidly changing energy system.   The recent rule change proposal by Delta Electricity highlights their inability to secure a bank guarantee from 15 banks. This is a clear sign that coal-fired power stations are not just environmentally unsustainable but are becoming financially unsustainable too.   The proposed rule change to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), which would allow cash as a form of credit support, underscores the desperation of coal operators to keep running.   It is imperative that we prioritize the addition of replacement renewable capacity and ensure that coal stations are retired on time.   It is a clear call to action to our federal and state governments to act with urgency. Penny Sharpe Chris Bowen MP Lily D’Ambrosio MP Smart Energy Council Tim Buckley Clean Energy Investor Group Climate Energy Finance Stephanie Bashir Wayne Smith Jordan Andreas Ferrari Link to the rule change request- https://lnkd.in/gxH4xaig Links to the The Australian Financial Review https://lnkd.in/gQkxQceC and The Australian https://lnkd.in/gC6uPUhe

Great to be invited to the DCCEEW Senate Inquiry into the Transition to EVs in Australia today to speak to Nexa Advisory's submission. I was very nervous going in and here is evidence that I have lived to tell the tale. It is proof that we can do anything we put our minds to do and passionate about. For me aligning my purpose with my work has been life changing. Here is to accelerating the clean energy transition and making sure we prioritise consumer preferences along the way to get it done fast and fair!

Today’s announcement of the New South Wales Consumer Energy Strategy by Minister Penny Sharpe is an exciting step forward. In line with recommendations in our submission to the consultation, and other reports by Nexa Advisory, the steps that will now be taken will get New South Wales back on track with its energy transition. As always, the devil of a strategy will be in the implementation. It is critical that consumer preferences are prioritised, so that the households and businesses making the investments that will service our national power grid are appropriately rewarded and protected. Key points: 👉 NSW Government targets for rooftop solar and batteries – including 1 million households and 3,400MW of Virtual Power Plant capacity by 2035. It is great to see the State Government backing AEMO’s rooftop solar and aggregated storage projections, which will help to supercharge ISP (Action 1) 👉 Support for smart meter adoption and tariff reforms (as outlined in the AEMC’s recent smart meter adoption and consumer pricing review projects). For example, NSW will require retailers to obtain explicit informed consent before changing consumers to demand tariffs (Actions 27 and 28) 👉 Support for national review of the regulatory framework for distribution networks – including on the structure and ownership of community batteries and the provision of transparent distribution network data (Action 48) We also look forward to engaging through next year’s Review of the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme to unlock the untapped opportunity to improve CER uptake across the Commercial and Industrial segment. Read our previous submission to NSW DCCEEW here: https://lnkd.in/g7kwq4gS #consumerenergy Penny Sharpe Smart Energy Council Climate Energy Finance Stephanie Bashir

Great coverage from within Eraring today by Peter Hannam in Guardian Australia – highlighting the uncertainty caused by the extension of Eraring to 2027 with mandatory closure by 2029. Even with the Eraring BESS, further work is needed not only by Origin but also more broadly across the state to enable renewable generation, storage and transmission. This is a clear call for the New South Wales Minns Government to ensure that there is a clear action plan for getting the transition back on track. This must: 👉 provide certainty over the closure of coal-fired power stations - preventing any further extensions of Eraring beyond 2027 👉 supercharge transmission buildout – ensuring that we deliver projects on time 👉 accelerate planning and environmental approvals for projects – which have been a significant bottleneck for projects in the state It is excellent to see the oversubscription of the New South Wales tender for South West REZ access rights – showing the clear investment appetite for renewable projects. This has been a complex process and requires further work by AEMO Services to award rights required to deliver renewable capacity across the REZs. While there is a lot of interest in getting large-scale projects connected, there remains a massive untapped opportunity for New South Wales Government to enable small-scale opportunities such as Commercial and Industrial CER – which we recently highlighted in our submission on the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme 2025 Review. Better inclusion of the C&I sector through this scheme would improve reliability outcomes and help to reduce costs for business consumers – providing ‘insurance’ to ensure Eraring can be closed on time. Read our PDRS submission here: https://lnkd.in/gnbjjMcb The Guardian https://lnkd.in/grrshrTa https://lnkd.in/g75XcPKp Paul Scully Penny Sharpe Tim Buckley Climate Energy Finance Smart Energy Council Tom Skladzien Stephanie Bashir

Transmission is the missing link in Australia’s transition to clean energy. We plan the transmission we need, but then we don’t build it, or at least not nearly fast enough. Our latest report – Supercharging Transmission Buildout - focuses on addressing the regulatory environment and lack of coordination, emphasising the need for a more radical approach to regulatory frameworks to ensure transparency and accountability. We argue for a shift towards performance-based regulation to incentivise delivery and consumer value. This has been achieved through innovative approaches to economic regulation in other Australian sectors, and has demonstrated the benefits of incentivising proponents to focus on delivery and consumer value. The report provides detailed insights into key failures of the existing regulatory framework – and the resulting shift towards state-based schemes. We also provide further detail around the implementation of recommendations previously put forward – which aim to build trust and provide equitable outcomes, highlighting the importance of delivering projects on time and gaining social license. It was great to collaborate with John Hamill, GAICD Read our report here: https://lnkd.in/gbW23n37 Check out the coverage in RenewEconomy by Rachel Williamson https://lnkd.in/gxPuA4zT Jordan Andreas Ferrari Stephanie Bashir