The body that sets the rules of Australia’s electricity market has officially launched what it says is a complex and “highly contentious piece of work” that looks at the role of networks in establishing much-needed EV charging infrastructure.
The review comes amid a surge in interest in electric vehicles – thanks to the fossil fuel supply crisis – that is highlighting the growing need for more public EV charging bays, particularly in cities where many households are not able to charge at home.
The Australian Energy Market Commission is considering three separate rule change requests at the same time, which is leading into a wholesale review of network regulation in the light of the new technologies – particularly home batteries and EVs that are being rapidly adopted by homes and businesses.
One of the rule change requests comes from the federal government and seeks to allow distributed networks to add the net cost of installing charge points under the $40 million government funded “acceleration program” program to their regulatory asset base.
The government estimates this will no more than 70c to $1.44 to the annual bills of households (depending on the network area), and with no bill impact before 2029.
