To ensure efficient operation of the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) in WA, the WEM Rules set up general trading obligations for market participants. These obligations are binding on all market participants.
The ERA is required to develop offer construction guideline and trading conduct guideline under clause 2.16D.1 of the WEM Rules (27 July 2024). These Guidelines provide regulatory guidance on how market participants can fulfill their general trading obligations.
The offer construction guideline sets out:
- The ERA's approach to offer assessment, including how the ERA expects a market participant to construct its offers.
- Examples of offers that would likely contravene the offer construction obligations in the WEM Rules.
- The record keeping requirements for market participants.
On 8 August 2024 Energy Policy WA (EPWA) published the Exposure Draft for amending WEM Rules under FCESS Cost Review (Exposure Draft). The Exposure Draft proposes amendments to the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) Rules which will affect the ERA’s regulatory guidance to market participants on their general trading obligations. EPWA’s proposed amendments include:
- Removing the need for the ERA to demonstrate that a market participant had market power when formulating offers into the Real Time Market and Short Term Energy Market (STEM).
- Introducing a new term, an ‘economic price offer’, which is no greater than the sum of all efficient variable costs.
- Defining ‘irregular price offers’ as being inconsistent with economic price offers.
Since the Guidelines are subsidiary to the WEM Rules, the ERA is in the process of revising them to ensure consistency with EPWA’s Exposure Draft. The ERA is following the process stated in the WEM Rules for administering the proposed changes.
On 5 September the ERA released draft Guidelines, along with a Draft Report detailing the proposed changes and the rationale behind them.
The ERA invites submissions on its draft Guidelines and will include the feedback from stakeholders in drafting final Guidelines.
For information on how to submit a response to the draft Guidelines and on other documents which are being changed in the process, please refer to the Notice. Submissions close 3 October 2024 at 4 pm.
Consultation September 2024
Guidelines effective October 2023
Consultation June 2023
Consultation June 2023 - Public Submissions
Consultation December 2022
Consultation December 2022 - Public submissions
