Joint submission into the inquiry into the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and six related bills

The Clean Energy Council and the Clean Energy Investor Group, Australia’s leading clean energy industry and investment peak bodies, warn that political grandstanding over net-zero targets risks undermining the investor confidence and policy certainty needed to build the cheap, clean and reliable power that Australians need.

The politics of net zero does not change the physics of our electricity system. Australia’s coal-fired power stations are closing whether we like it or not — more than 90 per cent are due to retire in the next decade. The fastest and cheapest option to replace the power is solar, wind backed by batteries and a bit of gas.

The CEC supports the objectives of the proposed rule change and sees it as critical to enabling consumer energy resources (CER) uptake and virtual power plant (VPP) services by reducing uncertainty, improving hosting capacity visibility and lowering risk of stranded or constrained CER assets.

We write with a joint submission on behalf of the Smart Energy Council and the Clean Energy Council. We have prepared this submission at the request of the Committee and in advance of our anticipated appearance at a Committee hearing on 14 November 2025.

We welcome this opportunity to comment on VicGrid’s proposed draft connections and access consultation paper and the draft Grid Impact Assessment (GIA) Guidelines that will underpin the proposed connections and access regime to apply in Victoria from early 2026.

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