The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has made a final rule requiring universal smart meters to be deployed across the National Electricity Market by 2030, delivering benefits sooner to consumers while ensuring strong customer protections.
AEMC chair Anna Collyer says the reforms recognise smart meters as essential infrastructure for transitioning to a renewable energy system and achieving net zero emissions targets.
“Smart meters are the digital foundation needed for a modern, connected and efficient energy system,” she says.
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“This reform will help households and businesses increasingly interact with the grid and energy markets as we support the cost-effective decarbonisation of the energy system.”
The final rules include two core reforms to unlock smart meter benefits sooner:
- Accelerated deployment of smart meters—deploying smart meters to customers faster to achieve cost savings, support a modern, data-enabled energy system, and give customers access to a range of benefits sooner.
- Access to power quality data—improving network access to important power quality information so that they can better manage their networks, reduce network costs for customers, save energy, and minimise network safety risks.
In addition, the final rules include four supporting reforms:
- New customer safeguards—protecting customers from potential cost risks by prohibiting any upfront costs ahead of a smart meter installation, and introducing new explicit informed consent and notification requirements ahead of any retail tariff changes.
- Improving the customer experience—ensuring that customers can access the full suite of benefits that smart meters provide, including by introducing new customer-friendly information requirements.
- Reducing barriers to installation—supporting delivery efficiencies, and therefore cost savings in the accelerated deployment of smart meters.
- Improved meter testing and inspections—helping minimise costs and improve efficiencies for industry and customers.
The new customer safeguards provide for a two-year period following the installation of a smart meter, where a customer cannot be moved to a new tariff without giving explicit informed consent.
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After this period, retailers wishing to change a customer’s tariff must provide them with historical bill comparisons showing what their bills would have been under new tariffs, along with practical information on understanding and managing their electricity usage.
The new rules also include a provision that enables jurisdictions to require designated retailers to offer flat tariff options to customers with smart meters.
The reforms will be implemented progressively from December 2024 to July 2026, with the accelerated rollout commencing in December 2025.
