The RERT program is used during periods of extreme stress in the electricity grid to help reduce the risk of involuntary load shedding or blackouts.

RERT is paid as a fixed rate per kWh of energy reduction and – as it is a last resort mechanism – the fixed rate is higher than other Demand Response products. This higher benefit, however, comes with higher compliance and to participate you must have either:

a) a large, reliable and definitive load that can be switched off, or 
b) have reliable, standby generation that can be switched on.

As well as being paid to participate, you’ll also be making an important contribution to our community in helping to avoid costly power outages on the network.

Frequency
Low frequency: zero to 6 times a year, per region.

Time of day
Typically occurs during evening peak periods.

Duration
Events typically last 3 to 8 hours.

Suitable for
Businesses with greater than 0.5MW of reliable, curtailable load or on-site gen-sets/batteries with the ability to reduce grid consumption by a known amount with approximately two hours’ notice. Please note, even non-EnergyAustralia customers can enrol in our RERT program.

Note
If you are in the RERT program and your business has load available, then it is expected that you will participate in the RERT event.
 

MDR is usually called on during grid stress, when forecast spot prices are very high. Like most of our demand response products, it involves large Commercial & Industrial customers shutting down operations or diverting to alternative power sources to relieve pressure on the grid.

The financial benefits of MDR are based on the ‘spot price’ share, however EnergyAustralia offers the opportunity to lock in an MDR Floor Price which guarantees a minimum rate, if the spot prices that prevail through the curtailed period turn out to be lower than expected. This protects your business from a negative financial impact, whilst still offering upside benefit if spot prices stay high.

If your business participates in RERT (see the program detail in the RERT section above) you may also earn credits for MDR during the same event, as EnergyAustralia pays these in parallel to ensure you receive the maximum financial benefit from your demand response participation.

Frequency
Moderate frequency: 2 to 10 times a year, per region.

Time of day
Typically occurs during evening peak or occasionally during morning peak periods.

Duration
Events typically last 2 to 4 hours.

Suitable for
Businesses on fixed price or progressive purchasing contracts with greater than 0.5MW of reliable, curtailable load or on-site gen-sets/batteries of any size with the ability to reduce grid consumption by a known amount with one hours’ notice.
 

It’s a flexible, obligation-free program where your business can make a valuable contribution to Australia’s energy transformation and earn a fixed rate per kWh of energy reduction – even where you may only have small loads or do not know which loads can be turned off. 

ResponsePro events are usually notified via a simple text message or email, several hours before an event. To participate, all your business needs to do is reply to confirm participation, and then do what you can to reduce consumption during the ResponsePro event period. 

This program works well for most sites that have any load that could be turned down or switched off for a few hours but who are not suitable for RERT and Market Demand Response. 

Frequency
Moderate frequency, 5 to 20 times a year.

Time of day
Typically occurs during evening peak or occasionally during morning peak periods.

Duration
Events typically last 2 to 6 hours. 

Suitable for
Businesses on fixed price contracts who do not qualify for RERT or MDR, for example, small-medium customers without gen-sets or larger customers without specific loads.
 

Traditionally, FCAS has been provided by generators such as coal and gas plants, however, as we transition to clean energy sources, it is now feasible for large Commercial & Industrial customers to participate in FCAS and receive financial rewards. EnergyAustralia has a partnership with Viotas, who are FCAS aggregators, so that we can offer your business the opportunity to benefit from the FCAS Contingency Raise markets.

FCAS differs from other forms of demand response, which give a business one to two hours’ notice and rewards them based on their actual load reduction from the grid. FCAS is paid based on a business’s load availability that could be shut down if the grid frequency were to drop. Participating businesses must be able to nominate this available load, have hardware installed to monitor grid frequency and have an automated system to shut down the load in less than 2 seconds. The good news is that shutdowns only last up to 10 minutes. 

All benefits are paid based on what load is available and bid in for FCAS – there are no payments for the actual reduction in energy consumption.  

Frequency of shutdowns
Moderate frequency: 0 to 20 times a year

Time of day
Anytime. 

Duration
Maximum of 10 minutes per event.

Suitable for
Businesses with greater than 0.5MW of curtailable load and with the ability to program that load to automatically shut down in less than 2 seconds.