AER draft 2020 Annual Benchmarking Reports

PIAC responded to the Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER) draft 2020 Annual Benchmarking Reports for network businesses. 

The submission outlines comments and recommendations to assist the AER continue to adapt and refine its benchmarking method, the interpretation of the insights it provides and how these are communicated and used.

We note:

• recent reductions in reliability reflects network performance approaching consumers’ preferences and is not a cause for concern
• businesses’ performance has converged towards the median rather than the top performing businesses and recommend the AER continue to monitor this trend
• DER are not well-reflected in the current benchmarking framework 
• ISP expenditure may reduce how useful the current metrics are at scrutinising a TNSP’s performance over time and against its peers