Relevant acquisitions

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.

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.

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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 storage systems

Battery storage systems may be subject to liability on a case-by-case basis as shown in Table 1. It can depend on what network it's connected to and the system's capacity.

This applies to most energy storage technologies, including pumped hydro energy storage.

System owners must always carry out proper metering and record keeping.

Table 1: Liability for battery storage systems

Type of battery storage system	Liability
On a transmission network managed by AEMO or NTESMO	The owner is: liable for electricity used by the system and for auxiliary power not liable for electricity sent back to the grid. This means usually you calculate liability as imports from the grid minus exports to the grid.
Capacity below 5 MW on a distribution network	The electricity retailer is liable for any electricity supplied to the battery and not later sent back to AEMO. The battery owner isn’t liable.
Capacity of 5 MW or more on a distribution network	The owner is liable for any electricity supplied to the battery and not later sent back to AEMO.
On a remote network with a capacity of 100 MW or more	The owner is liable for all electricity used by the system.

Exclusions

Table 2 shows other situations where an individual or electricity retailer is exempt from liability.

Table 2: Exemption for specific scenarios

Liability exempt case	Condition
Grid capacity is less than 100 MW	If a remote grid either: has an installed capacity of less than 100 MW isn't connected to a grid that has a capacity of 100 MW or more. 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: the distance between the point of generation and use is less than 1 km a dedicated transmission or distribution line supplies electricity only between those points.
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: use the electricity only to run the power station import less electricity than they export over an assessment year. 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.

Relevant acquisitions