Electricity Distribution Price Reviews (EDPR or Price Reviews) are a sales process. Utilities need to sell customer outcomes to the Regulator. The Regulator, a proxy for the customer, wants proof that identified outcomes can be delivered and provide value for money. Utilities need to manage this tension between delivering customer outcomes and optimising the most…
MHC hosts briefing – Volatile Energy Markets – Water Sector Risk & Opportunity (Friday 16 June, 2017) Australia’s energy markets are seeing unprecedented price increases and price volatility – the summer ahead may well break all records. What appears like risk, is however now equally matched by opportunity: but only for engaged energy market participants….
MHC are working with AGL to test P2P energy trading with blockchain technology to allow households to trade surplus energy from their rooftop solar panels, with the aim of determining the regulatory and system changes needed to make the market work effectively. Read the full press release in the Australian Financial Review Media Release issued from ARENA…
In May MHC are hosting a series of breakfast briefings on the topic “The role of grid edge markets in Australia’s power system” There has been a lot of talk, a number of big ideas and a whole lot of money on offer to help secure Australia’s power system. So far, most of the options…
Is there a lack of meaningful competition in the electricity retail sector? The idea of Contestability has been topical lately. One of the AEMC’s many Power of Choice review recommendations is the creation of a new contestable market for Demand-Side Participation (DSP), alongside the existing contestable market for energy retailing, so that providers of demand…
The Strategic Asset Management (SAM) framework has been widely adopted by network utilities across the globe and its principles are largely applied in the design of their operating models. The electricity industry is currently facing a number of significant trends including a wider availability of more economic electricity supply alternatives (e.g. PV), falling electricity demand…
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) 2012 Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO) represents the first demand and supply forecast under AEMO’s National Energy Forecasting Report (NEFR). And what a difference a year, and greater independence, makes. Figure 1 compares the AEMO’s forecast Low Reserve Condition (LRC) for each National Electricity Market (NEM) region between the…
Overview Network Service Providers (NSPs) operate in a regulated environment which sets a maximum limit on financial returns. However, the regulatory environment does not guarantee that firms will earn the regulated maximum or that they will recover the full value of any investment made. This article argues that a combination of rapidly changing technology and…
Marchment Hill Consulting’s (MHC) client, an Asian-based integrated energy utility, sought assistance to formulate a human resources (HR) roadmap, strategy framework, as well as key initiatives to address a series of workforce-related issues. These issues included: Limited connectivity between future plans for recruitment, training and development, and the future works program. Rapidly changing mix of…
Vertical integration by a business combines different functional elements of a supply chain within a market. Generally, the benefits of vertical integration reflect the perceived and expected efficiency gained by: Addressing coordination challenges between functional elements Effectively combining assets/services to the benefit of consumers Reducing transaction costs associated with coordinating functional elements Reducing risks and…