Farmshare Tariff Trial

Overview

TasNetworks, in partnership with Aurora Energy, is planning a 12-month trial of new billing arrangements designed to enable primary producers with their own generation to offset the electricity they produce against their consumption of energy at other connections on the same property, not just at the point of generation.

The electricity market relies on each connection to a property being metered and billed separately. For most households and businesses with just one connection this system works well. And for many primary producers, the separate billing and metering of each connection on their property works well too.

But for a primary producer with multiple connections on the same property that also has on-site generation, the individual metering and billing of each connection can prevent that business from maximising its use of the electricity it generates. This is because if a primary producer uses electricity at one connection while exporting electricity from another, even though the connections are on the same property the separate metering and billing of each connection means the business has to pay for all the electricity it uses at the connection which is drawing power from the network.

While the primary producer might earn a Feed-in Tariff for any energy that they export to the grid to be used by other customers, they could potentially reduce their energy costs by more if there was a way to offset those exports of energy against the consumption of electricity at other locations on their property. This has led a number of primary producers to call for a way to balance their electricity use and generation across all of their connections on the same property, before they have to either buy more electricity from their retailer or export the surplus energy they generate.


The Trial

TasNetworks plans to modify its billing system to enable primary producers to offset the electricity they generate at one connection on their property against the electricity they use at other connections on the same property. This will involve aggregating metering data for multiple connections and a new experimental tariff to calculate network charges for the entire property, instead of for each connection.

During the trial, TasNetworks will bill participants' electricity retailer, Aurora Energy, using this new method. The trial aims to see if participants can manage their electricity use in a way that aligns their consumption of electricity with their generation of electricity, in order to reduce their energy costs.

The Trial is not intended to be a simulation involving ‘mock’ electricity bills which are simply compared with the bills participants receive from their retailer. The network charges calculated by TasNetworks using aggregated metering data will be billed to participants’ electricity retailer (Aurora Energy) and reflected in their power bills. If participants in the trial are able to align the use of electricity around their property as much as possible with the times that they are generating and exporting electricity from another location on the same property, they should be able to benefit from doing so.,


Trial Term

The Trial is expected to run for 12 months, in order to provide sufficient time to properly test the experimental billing arrangements and to account for seasonal variations in participants’ energy use and generation.

At the Trial’s conclusion, the network tariffs and billing arrangements applying to the primary producers that participate in the trial will revert to the tariffs to which those customers were assigned immediately prior to the beginning of the trial.


Trial Partners

TasNetworks is the proponent of the Trial, with Aurora Energy acting as the retail facilitator of the Trial. Only metering data for connections on a primary production property for which Aurora Energy is the retailer will be able to be aggregated for the purposes of determining the network (and retail) charges for each primary producer participating in the Trial.


Trial Participants

We need to set up a small community of primary producers to test-drive the experimental billing arrangements that are currently under development, with a view to shaping the network tariffs of the future.

We don’t need a large number of participants to make the Trial work. But it is important to recruit a cross-section of primary producers from across the State to provide diversity in terms of the agricultural activities they are engaged in, their electricity use and the generation they have on their properties.

Apart from monitoring the impact that the Trial billing arrangements have on participants’ electricity costs, participants will help TasNetworks and Aurora Energy understand the energy needs of primary producers through their insights and feedback about the Trial. A key objective of the Trial will be to ascertain the extent to which participants are able to manage their electricity use to align their consumption with the energy they generate.

During the Trial, participants may be required to participate in a variety of engagement activities conducted by TasNetworks and/or Aurora Energy, including questionnaires, surveys or polls, interviews or focus groups. Participants will also need to agree to participate in accordance with a set of rules that will also govern the involvement of TasNetworks and Aurora Energy in the Trial.

Overview

TasNetworks, in partnership with Aurora Energy, is planning a 12-month trial of new billing arrangements designed to enable primary producers with their own generation to offset the electricity they produce against their consumption of energy at other connections on the same property, not just at the point of generation.

The electricity market relies on each connection to a property being metered and billed separately. For most households and businesses with just one connection this system works well. And for many primary producers, the separate billing and metering of each connection on their property works well too.

But for a primary producer with multiple connections on the same property that also has on-site generation, the individual metering and billing of each connection can prevent that business from maximising its use of the electricity it generates. This is because if a primary producer uses electricity at one connection while exporting electricity from another, even though the connections are on the same property the separate metering and billing of each connection means the business has to pay for all the electricity it uses at the connection which is drawing power from the network.

While the primary producer might earn a Feed-in Tariff for any energy that they export to the grid to be used by other customers, they could potentially reduce their energy costs by more if there was a way to offset those exports of energy against the consumption of electricity at other locations on their property. This has led a number of primary producers to call for a way to balance their electricity use and generation across all of their connections on the same property, before they have to either buy more electricity from their retailer or export the surplus energy they generate.


The Trial

TasNetworks plans to modify its billing system to enable primary producers to offset the electricity they generate at one connection on their property against the electricity they use at other connections on the same property. This will involve aggregating metering data for multiple connections and a new experimental tariff to calculate network charges for the entire property, instead of for each connection.

During the trial, TasNetworks will bill participants' electricity retailer, Aurora Energy, using this new method. The trial aims to see if participants can manage their electricity use in a way that aligns their consumption of electricity with their generation of electricity, in order to reduce their energy costs.

The Trial is not intended to be a simulation involving ‘mock’ electricity bills which are simply compared with the bills participants receive from their retailer. The network charges calculated by TasNetworks using aggregated metering data will be billed to participants’ electricity retailer (Aurora Energy) and reflected in their power bills. If participants in the trial are able to align the use of electricity around their property as much as possible with the times that they are generating and exporting electricity from another location on the same property, they should be able to benefit from doing so.,


Trial Term

The Trial is expected to run for 12 months, in order to provide sufficient time to properly test the experimental billing arrangements and to account for seasonal variations in participants’ energy use and generation.

At the Trial’s conclusion, the network tariffs and billing arrangements applying to the primary producers that participate in the trial will revert to the tariffs to which those customers were assigned immediately prior to the beginning of the trial.


Trial Partners

TasNetworks is the proponent of the Trial, with Aurora Energy acting as the retail facilitator of the Trial. Only metering data for connections on a primary production property for which Aurora Energy is the retailer will be able to be aggregated for the purposes of determining the network (and retail) charges for each primary producer participating in the Trial.


Trial Participants

We need to set up a small community of primary producers to test-drive the experimental billing arrangements that are currently under development, with a view to shaping the network tariffs of the future.

We don’t need a large number of participants to make the Trial work. But it is important to recruit a cross-section of primary producers from across the State to provide diversity in terms of the agricultural activities they are engaged in, their electricity use and the generation they have on their properties.

Apart from monitoring the impact that the Trial billing arrangements have on participants’ electricity costs, participants will help TasNetworks and Aurora Energy understand the energy needs of primary producers through their insights and feedback about the Trial. A key objective of the Trial will be to ascertain the extent to which participants are able to manage their electricity use to align their consumption with the energy they generate.

During the Trial, participants may be required to participate in a variety of engagement activities conducted by TasNetworks and/or Aurora Energy, including questionnaires, surveys or polls, interviews or focus groups. Participants will also need to agree to participate in accordance with a set of rules that will also govern the involvement of TasNetworks and Aurora Energy in the Trial.

Page last updated: 16 Jul 2024, 09:56 AM