Market Review: Completed
Overview
Following a review which commenced in December 2025, the Reliability Panel has published a revised Template for compliance programs (Template). It provides plant owners and operators with useful guidance and suggested testing and monitoring methodologies to demonstrate ongoing compliance with their technical performance standards. Existing compliance programs must be updated to be consistent with the revised Template by 27 February 2027.
The Template is a key component of the compliance framework. It helps support plant compliance with technical standards which is fundamental to the safe, secure and reliable operation of the electricity system.
The final Template:
- includes revised and new compliance tables to provide guidance to a wider range of plant types, including generators, loads, synchronous condensers, HVDC links and battery energy storage systems
- provides more detailed guidance on topics such as continuous plant monitoring, the impact of plant changes on compliance and the use of models to demonstrate compliance
- reflects changes to the technical requirements in the National Electricity Rules (NER), most notably by the Improving the NEM Access Standards – Package 1 2025 Rule.
The Panel recommends a rule change request to better align future Template reviews with changes to the NER access standards
The Panel intends to submit a rule change request that would provide greater flexibility in the timing of future Template reviews to better align with any future changes to the NER access standards. The rule change will seek to resolve an issue where the Panel may be required to review the Template in accordance with the NER’s five-year requirement, but cannot consider any anticipated or potential amendments to the access standards in an ongoing AEMC rule change during the review.