The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has granted a trial waiver to PLUS ES to install up to 1,000 kerbside, pole-mounted EV chargers across New South Wales and South Australia.
PLUS ES, a ringfenced entity of Ausgrid, has previously been awarded funding from the NSW Government to deploy pole-mounted kerbside chargers under round 1 of its Kerbside Charging Grant program.
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The AER’s waiver will enable PLUS ES to trial an innovative metering solution for pole-mounted kerbside EV chargers that improves the efficiency and cost of public EV chargers.
This is achieved by packaging the metering and charging elements in a single EV charging unit.
AER chair Clare Savage said the decision to grant the waiver reinforced the AER’s commitment to considering solutions that benefit consumers and the market.
“I’m really pleased to announce this trial waiver for PLUS ES and look forward to seeing how consumers use and engage with these chargers, and learning from the trial what the possible benefits of using this type of metering technology could be,” she said.
“This is the second waiver the AER has granted through the Energy Innovation Toolkit, which is available to established and emerging energy market participants to test ideas that are not currently allowed by the regulatory framework.
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“We want to challenge perceptions that regulations can be a barrier to innovation. Through our regulatory sandboxing approach we want to hear new ideas to trial solutions that are in the long-term interests of consumers.”
Beyond the potential cost and efficiency benefits to consumers, the trial of these meters will provide the market operator (AEMO) with data on the performance of these meters to inform its updated Metrology Procedure.
