When Anna Collyer stepped up to speak at Australian Energy Week 2025, she didn’t pull any punches. As the chair of the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), she had some frank things to say about where we’re heading with our energy transition. If you’re running a business in Australia, her insights matter more than you might think.
Australia’s electricity grid is changing faster than anywhere else in the world. That’s not marketing speak, it’s what Collyer told the packed Melbourne Convention Centre audience. The old rules that governed our energy system? They’re struggling to keep up with reality.
Think about it this way: when you installed that office air conditioning system five years ago, the energy market looked completely different. Now we’ve got rooftop solar everywhere, batteries popping up in suburbs, and electric vehicles starting to hit the roads in serious numbers. The grid that powers your business is becoming something entirely new.
Collyer shared what she calls the AEMC’s new approach, built around three core ideas that sound simple but aren’t easy to execute.
The AEMC has been caught off-guard before. Their 2014 smart meter rules haven’t delivered the results anyone hoped for, and Collyer admitted it openly. That kind of honesty from a regulator is refreshing, and it signals they’re serious about doing better.
Collyer used a great analogy about urban wetlands that had to be built around existing transmission towers. Sometimes you can’t have the perfect solution, you work with what’s there and make it better. That’s exactly what’s happening with our energy transition.
Collyer mentioned working directly with groups like St Vincent de Paul and ACOSS on energy reforms. When welfare organisations are actively involved in technical energy rule-making, you know something fundamental has shifted.
Gas isn’t disappearing overnight, but it’s not staying the same either. The challenge is managing what she calls “an orderly phase-out” rather than the messy coal transition we’ve been living through.
For businesses, this means gas will likely remain part of the energy mix for years to come, but probably in a different role. Think of it as the reliable backup that kicks in when renewables can’t quite cover everything. That has real implications for how you plan your energy contracts and equipment purchases.
Consumer energy resources (rooftop solar, home batteries, EVs) aren’t just changing how people power their homes. They’re becoming part of the electricity system that powers your business.
Collyer pointed out that many Australians now generate electricity and sell it back to the grid. Your customers aren’t just energy consumers anymore—they’re energy producers. And that changes everything about how the system works and how it gets paid for.
The AEMC’s latest 10-year projections show that average electricity prices across the National Electricity Market could fall by around 13%. Even more significantly, total household energy costs—including electricity, gas, and petrol—could drop by nearly $1,000 per year by 2035.
If your customers fully electrify—heat pumps, EVs, solar—their energy expenses could fall by up to 70%. That changes customer expectations, and they’ll look to businesses to keep up.
The AEMC wants every household in the National Electricity Market to have a smart meter by 2030. These devices enable real-time monitoring, dynamic pricing, and remote fault detection. For businesses with multiple sites or variable loads, smart meters can provide a major operational edge. Consumer protections will ensure no up-front charges and full access to your energy data.
The AEMC is updating technical standards for connecting new generation and large loads. This will make it easier, cheaper, and faster to connect solar, batteries, and large users like data centres—without compromising reliability.
Collyer explained that the AEMC is using 10-year planning horizons and evaluating the entire “energy wallet”—electricity, gas, and petrol combined. That’s essential for businesses making infrastructure investments. But risks remain: poor coordination of rooftop solar, EVs, and batteries could raise system-wide costs. If it’s not done right, households alone could pay $100 more per year. Now imagine what that means for large users.
All this change creates both challenges and opportunities. Energy costs remain a significant factor for most Australian businesses, but the way those costs are structured is shifting. The businesses that understand these changes early will be better positioned to manage their energy expenses over the long term.
Collyer’s message was clear: the energy transition is happening whether we’re ready or not. The question isn’t whether to adapt, but how quickly you can understand the new landscape and position your business accordingly.
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