On 26 June 2025, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), published a consultation paper examining a rule change request from Energy Consumers Australia (ECA). ECA has identified potential issues with the existing distribution annual planning process in the National Electricity Rules (NER). It has proposed addressing them by implementing a new Integrated Distribution System Planning (IDSP) process.  

We are now seeking feedback from stakeholders on the issues raised by ECA and its proposed solutions. Stakeholders are invited to provide written submissions on the consultation paper by 24 July 2025 via the AEMC website. Further engagement opportunities will follow.

We have extended the rule change process to facilitate greater interrogation of the issues and proposed solution

The Commission considers that additional consultation will be required for this rule change process due to the complex issues that ECA has raised in its rule change request. ECA’s proposed solution would also significantly change the current distribution planning process. As such, we have extended the time for the draft determination by 6 months to allow us to further investigate the problems ECA has identified and assess solutions. We are now required to publish the draft determination by 19 March 2026.  

Background

ECA submitted a rule change request on 22 January 2025 seeking to reform the current distribution annual planning process. ECA has suggested that the current planning process does not result in:  

• proactive engagement with communities
• adequate consideration of the uptake of CER
• sufficient incorporation of outcomes of the Integrated System Plan (ISP)
• sufficient data to fully inform the ISP process.

And that without reform, these issues could lead to:  

• active communities not contributing to the planning of the local network
• lower utilisation of network assets
• curtailment of energy generated from CER.

Under the proposed rule change, the existing distribution annual planning process in Chapter 5 of the NER would be replaced with the proposed IDSP process. This would require each DNSP to release a comprehensive planning report every two years, alternating with the ISP.  

DNSPs would also be required to publish a network data and insights roadmap that outlines how they will meet the requirements of the new IDSP process. This would include the more frequent publication of certain data and broader consultation with key stakeholders, such as consumers and communities.