NOTE: Following the successful disaggreagtion of Western Power Corporation as of 1 April 2006, the Electricity Reform Implementation Unit has been disbanded. This site remains active for historical reference only.
For further and current information relating to the West Australian Electricity Industry, please visit the Office of Energy Website
Electricity Reform and Sustainable Energy
The State Government’s electricity reform plan is enabling
Western Australia is already developing a reputation as a clean, green State with enormous renewable energy resources and huge potential for growth.
New arrangements were set up to prepare the electricity industry and market for reform in April 2006.
The aim of reform is to have privately owned and operated renewable energy generators in the South West Interconnected System producing a range of renewable energy products in a competitive retail market. Renewable energy will also continue to play a growing role in off-grid areas where conventional energy costs are high.
Click here to download an information brochure "A New Deal for Sustainable Energy"
The renewable energy sector will be a major beneficiary of the Government’s electricity market reforms in the longer term. The first steps have already been taken to ensure that issues faced by renewable energy generators are addressed in the transition period leading up to the new market.
One of the major concerns of independent renewable energy providers in the previous market were the limitations of the balancing arrangements. The balancing arrangements are the mechanism used to purchase power shortfalls (“top up”) or sell surpluses (“spill”) and thus balance generation with the customer’s power requirements.
The Top Up and Spill service developed for the transition period, replaced the previous balancing arrangements in June 2004. The Top Up and Spill service overcame some of the limitations, including those aspects criticised by renewable energy proponents, while providing as much consistency as possible with the future market arrangements.
The TUAS market was operated by Western Power Corporation prior to the commencement of the new Wholesale Electricity Market. Read more on TUAS on the Western Power website click here >>
