By Sarah Pick, Partner

Scope of electricity regulatory compliance

Whether an electricity industry participant is participating in the National Electricity Market (NEM), the Northern Territory or Western Australia, it will be required to comply with a significant number of regulatory requirements and will need to ensure that it actively and constantly monitors for changes to those regulatory requirements and the introduction of new regulatory requirements. To demonstrate the fast-paced nature of the regulatory requirements:

• NEM Jurisdictions: The Australian Energy Market Commission has released 19 versions of the National Electricity Rules since the beginning of 2024.
• Northern Territory: The Utilities Commission of the NT has recently undertaken a review of the NT Electricity Licencing Regime which has resulted in amendments to the Electricity Retail Supply Code and the electricity licensing regime and licence conditions.
• Western Australia: The ‘new’ WA Wholesale Electricity Market commenced in October 2023 and since that reform, there have been 11 updated versions of the WEM Rules.

The electricity regulatory requirements are vast and include (depending on an electricity industry participant’s activities):

• the National Electricity Law and Rules (for NEM participants and the NT);
• the National Energy Customer Framework (for NEM participating jurisdictions);
• the WA Wholesale Electricity Market (for WA only);
• jurisdictional legislation and regulations (including any licence obligations);
• jurisdictional codes and guidelines issued by jurisdictional regulators; and
• Commonwealth legislation relevant to the electricity industry participant’s activities (for example, the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Cth) and the ACCC Electricity Retail Code).

Electricity industry participants generally have obligations under their registrations, licences, authorisations, authorities or exemptions to comply with regulatory requirements relevant to their activities in the electricity industry.

Industry regulatory bodies (including the Australian Energy Regulator, the Economic Regulator of WA, Essential Services Commission of Victoria, Essential Services Commission of South Australia and the Utilities Commission of Northern Territory) are actively monitoring compliance and are taking action where electricity industry participants are not complying with their regulatory obligations. For example:

• In 2024, breaches of the ACCC Electricity Retail Code resulted in multiple electricity entities having to pay penalties ranging from $82,500 to $14million.[1]
• The Essential Services Commission of Victoria sent out various penalty notices in 2025 and 2024 relating to price certainly obligations, family violence obligations, performance reporting, guaranteed service level payments and debt recovery actions.[2]

What should ‘electricity regulatory compliance’ look like?

Each electricity industry participant’s regulatory compliance program will have its differences and nuances, but the key pillars of a robust compliance system are as follows:

• A clear understanding of what the electricity industry participant’s obligations are and within which regulatory instruments they are located.
• Processes in place to update the electricity industry participants’ obligations to reflect amendments to existing, or the introduction of new, regulatory instruments.
• Clear internal ownership of each of the electricity industry participant’s obligations that sets out who is responsible for monitoring compliance.
• Internal processes for monitoring the electricity industry participant’s compliance with its obligations.
• Internal processes that set out how compliance and non-compliances must be internally and externally reported.
• An internal compliance procedure document that sets out all the information set out in each of the above dot points.

How can Mills Oakley’s Energy Resources & Infrastructure team help with ‘electricity regulatory compliance’?

The Mills Oakley Energy Resources & Infrastructure team has a detailed understanding of the NEM jurisdictions, NT and WA regulatory requirements for electricity industry participants participating in retailing electricity, generating electricity or operating an electricity network.

We can assist in:

• preparing, reviewing and updating regulatory compliance registers;
• providing periodic and individualised regulatory instrument update reports;
• drafting compliance procedures and compliance reports; and
• providing regulatory compliance advice.

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[1] https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/news

[2] https://www.esc.vic.gov.au/electricity-and-gas/market-performance-and-reporting/electricity-and-gas-company-penalty-notices