Networks could install EV chargers, with bills paying about 70 per cent of costs

The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has published a draft rule on public electric vehicle (EV) chargers. It would let networks in a Commonwealth grant program install and maintain them, and recover "approximately 70 per cent of the efficient costs" from customers.

The AEMC is an independent statutory body that makes and amends the rules for the National Electricity Market. In its information sheet, the AEMC says facilitating the Commonwealth program "is likely in the long term interests of consumers".

A joint open letter of 6 Oct 2026, from 13 organisations including Tesla, says "the AEMC has not yet established the case for network ownership funded through electricity bills".

What the draft rule would do

The rule would enable the Commonwealth's "$40 million Accelerating Electric Vehicle Charging Program". The AEMC says it "will place an estimated 14,000 chargers in locations the Commonwealth has identified as most needed by 2029".

The program has three parts:

• In regional blackspots, networks would bid to install fast direct current (DC) chargers.
• In metropolitan areas, charge point operators get first right of refusal on kerbside sites and pay for their own chargers.
• Where no operator takes a kerbside site, the network must install a slower alternating current (AC) charger "as the provider of last resort" and appoint an operator to run it.

For the kerbside chargers networks would install where no operator takes a site, the AEMC said: "We have not been able to conclude whether the breakeven point will be met".

The breakeven point is the number of extra EVs per site, over the chargers' life, needed for the benefits to outweigh the costs. The AEMC still backs the program overall, citing the regional and operator-led parts.

Customers would pay about 70 per cent

The 70 per cent applies to the networks' approved program activities, and it would come from their own electricity customers.

The program assumes the Commonwealth pays about 30 per cent through grants. Both shares apply to the networks' costs after payments from the operators that run the chargers are deducted.

The AEMC cannot yet put a precise figure on consumers' costs. Its guide is "around a $1.00 increase in annual bills for five years for a typical customer", for the program "as currently designed".

What the letter and the networks say

The letter's signatories include Tesla, AGL, EnergyAustralia and Evie. They support more charging in regional areas and for households without off-street parking, but raise four concerns:

• the evidence does not yet show the rule is likely to advance the National Electricity Objective, the test the AEMC must apply
• the AEMC's own analysis "does not show that network-owned kerbside charging will deliver enough benefit"
• "A case for intervention is not a case for network ownership"
• costs would be passed on without an upfront check by the Australian Energy Regulator that they are efficient

The letter adds:

Customers who cannot afford an EV, do not own a car or live in a different area from the people using a charger would still have to pay.

The networks' industry body, Energy Networks Australia, backed the program in its submission. It says networks "are key infrastructure providers who can work alongside industry to roll out kerbside chargers at pace".

Essential Energy "strongly supports the intent of the proposed rule change".

How to make a submission

Submissions close on 5 Nov 2026. Lodge one on the AEMC website, project code ERC0436.