Once you make your first relevant acquisition, you become a liable entity. There are various types of acquisitions that a liable entity can make.
Find out more about how to report liability.
Relevant acquisitions
There are 2 types of relevant acquisitions:
- wholesale
- notional wholesale.
Relevant legislation:
- section 31 of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000.
Reduced acquisitions
You can reduce your liability each year by including exemption certificates from your eligible emissions-intensive-trade-exposed (EITE) customers. You then use your reduced acquisitions to calculate certificate liability.
Equation
Relevant acquisitions – exemption certificates = reduced acquisitions
Relevant legislation:
- Section 38AA of the Act.
Wholesale acquisitions
A wholesale acquisition is when you buy electricity and supply it to an end user.
Wholesale acquisitions cover many scenarios, including electricity acquired from:
- AEMO or a prescribed person or body (to supply to customers or for your own use on site)
- generators.
Relevant legislation:
- section 32 of the Act.
Notional wholesale acquisitions
A notional wholesale acquisition is when you generate electricity and supply it to an end user.
There are 2 types of scenarios.
The first scenario is when the generator is liable for the electricity they sell to a customer not registered under the national electricity rules.
The second scenario is when you have generated and used the electricity and:
- the distance between the point of generation and use is more than 1 km
- there is no dedicated transmission or distribution line supplies electricity only between those points.
Relevant legislation:
- section 33 of the Act.
Calculating acquisitions
No double counting
You must only count a portion of electricity as a relevant acquisition once.
You should calculate electricity acquired in megawatt hours (MWh) for relevant acquisitions at either the:
- AEMO or AEMO WA settlement point
- customer or generator meter.
If you acquire electricity from AEMO, AEMO WA or a prescribed person or body, calculate the gross amount acquired at the settlement point while factoring in:
- applicable transmission and distribution loss factors
- allocated unaccounted for energy.
If you acquire electricity directly from a generator, calculate the amount of electricity either:
- acquired at the point of generation
- supplied to end users factoring in applicable loss factors.
If none of these scenarios apply, we’ll choose a method of calculation after consulting with you.
Relevant legislation:
- regulation 21 of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001.
Battery and other storage systems
The following compliance obligations apply for entities operating battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other energy storage technologies, including pumped hydro energy storage.
Electricity used for energy storage is not considered a relevant acquisition. If you only acquire electricity for this purpose, you are not required to:
- submit an annual Energy Acquisition Statement (EAS)
- surrender Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs) or Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) to avoid a shortfall charge.
If you acquire electricity for purposes other than energy storage, you must continue to lodge an EAS, but you do not need to report or surrender certificates for the portion of electricity acquired for energy storage.
System owners must always carry out proper metering and record keeping.
Some acquisitions for battery energy storage may be liable, depending on the specific supply configuration.
We recommend contacting the RET Liability team at ret-liability@cer.gov.au for information about how your circumstances may be impacted.
Exclusions
Table 1 shows other situations where an individual or electricity retailer is exempt from liability.
Table 1: Exemption for specific scenarios
| Liability exempt case | Condition |
| Grid capacity is less than 100 MW | If a remote grid either:
Once the grid has a capacity of 100 MW or more, it becomes a liable entity and the electricity it generates is a relevant acquisition. |
| Self-generation | If you generated and used the same electricity and either:
|
| Later acquired by a market operator | If the electricity is later acquired by AEMO or NTESMO. For example, a company buys electricity from a customer’s photovoltaic system which AEMO or NTESMO later buys. |
Power station auxiliaries
| Power stations that buy electricity from the grid may not be liable to report it if they:
Electricity retailers must report if they buy electricity for auxiliary use at a power station. |
Relevant legislation:
- section 31(2) of the Act
- regulation 21 of the Regulations.