WA’s battery storage “ban”: Regulator says don’t blame us

The main energy regulatory body in Western Australia says it is not to blame for the apparent ban on battery storage and electric vehicles in the state, saying there is nothing stopping the government-owned utilities from allowing such installations.

A major fracas has erupted in WA since it emerged that households were effectively banned from installing battery storage and EVs with their rooftop solar arrays.

The state-owned retailer Synergy, and the state-owned grid operator Western Power, quickly pointed the finger to rules imposed by the Economic Regulation Authority.

And this was followed up by energy minister Mike Nahan, who described the rules as “red tape gone mad” and promised last week that they would be gone within a month after discussions with the ERA, Synergy and Western Power.

But the ERA this week said that there was nothing in the regulations to prevent Synergy or Western Power waving through battery storage and EVs if they wanted to.

The ERA says that when it set the guidelines for the so-called “reference services” for the  2013-17 period for customers with bi-directional energy flows (i.e. those with rooftop solar and sending electricity back into the grid), it excluded those with battery storage and EVs.

It said that, at the time, it concluded that “more detailed consideration” was needed before a reference service that catered for batteries and electric vehicles could be approved.

But it says such services could still be offered to users as “non-reference service” if there was demand. “That remains the case today,” a spokesperson for the ERA told RenewEconomy via email this week.

“Neither the regulations nor the ERA hinder Synergy and Western Power from agreeing to a battery storage or electric vehicle service that can be offered to consumers. It is up to Synergy and Western Power to negotiate. The ERA has no role in such negotiations.”

Nahan has indicated that rooftop solar will continue to roll out quickly on the state’s homes and businesses, and predicts that battery storage will also be popular; and Synergy plans to roll out a battery storage offering next year, to keep pace with Alinta Energy. But he said that battery storage was still “not competitive.”

This issue was take up by WA Greens MLC Robin Chapple, who said research from Curtin University suggests that the cost of combined battery storage and solar systems is already at grid parity for much of regional Western Australia.

“Nahan’s comments that batteries are not commercial is a fabrication to cover up his department’s slow response to this emerging technology,” he said in an emailed statement.

“This kind of rhetoric is unproductive; Synergy and Horizon have an obligation to provide cheaper power to their customer’s and for regional WA that time is right now.”

And for the pundits, here is some more information from the ERA about the regulations:

“As is set out in the Electricity Networks Access Code 2004 (Access Code), Western Power and Synergy can negotiate an access contract based on any service and terms at any time. The starting point for these negotiations is usually the reference services approved in the access arrangement.

“These reference services are the services an arbitrator would look to when seeking to settle an access dispute. Western Power has an obligation to offer at least the reference services and must use all reasonable endeavours to accommodate Synergy’s or any other network user’s requirements in relation to an access contract (see section 2.4A and 2.7 of the Access Code).

“Although there may need to be direct contact between the customer and Western Power in relation to physical connection arrangements, all contractual and pricing arrangements are between Synergy and Western Power. The ERA is not required to be involved in the negotiation of non-reference services.”