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Attune Legal — Australian Energy Law Specialists

Strategic counsel for participants in Australia’s energy transition. We advise retailers, generators, aggregators, and technology providers operating within the National Electricity Market. Our practice combines regulatory expertise with commercial pragmatism—helping clients navigate complex compliance obligations while executing ambitious market strategies.

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Energy Law Services

Core practice areas in energy:

Market Participation

NEM registration, compliance frameworks, and operational obligations

Commercial Agreements

PPAs, offtake agreements, and wholesale market contracts

Regulatory Advisory

Navigating AEMO requirements, ESB reforms, and state-based schemes

The Australian energy sector rewards precision. Regulatory requirements are specific, compliance timelines are strict, and commercial agreements demand sophisticated risk allocation. We provide strategic counsel that enables market entry, operational efficiency, and confident navigation of Australia’s evolving energy landscape.

Our clients include retailers, renewable developers, demand response providers, and software platforms serving energy participants.

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Our Energy Practice

NEM Participation & Compliance

End-to-end advisory for market entry, registration procedures, ongoing compliance obligations, and AEMO reporting requirements. We help you understand the operational reality of NEM participation before you commit capital.

Power Purchase Agreements

Negotiation and drafting of PPAs, offtake agreements, and hedging contracts. We represent both buyers and sellers, structuring deals that allocate risk appropriately while enabling project finance and operational certainty.

Customer Documentation

Retail customer agreements, embedded network contracts, and demand response participation terms. Documentation that satisfies regulatory requirements while remaining commercially executable.

Software & Channel Partners

Service agreements for billing platforms, CRM systems, and market integration software. Channel partner arrangements with brokers, consultants, and white-label service providers.

Regulatory Strategy

Advisory on rule changes, market reforms, and emerging obligations. We monitor regulatory developments, assess impact, and provide strategic guidance for adapting business models to policy shifts.

Our Process

When Do You Need an Estate Plan?

Estate planning isn’t only for later in life. Certain milestones make it especially important to have a plan in place:

Marriage

Consider creating a will, trust, or an incapacity plan to protect your assets and ensure end-of-life care is clear and spelled out.

Children

Having a family is the perfect time to update your estate plan to ensure assets are passed down and legal guardianship is clear.

Start a Business

A trust or business succession plan can help make it easier to control your business, tax planning and privacy purposes.

Asset Accumulation

As you accumulate assets in your lifetime, it may be necessary to set up a trust to avoid probate and make sure your assets are protected.

Divorce / Remarriage

A divorce or remarriage is the perfect time to change power of attorney, update estate plans and incapacity plans.

Retirement

This milestone is a good time to make sure your estate plan is up to date—and to prepare for the years ahead.

The Elder Years

As you get older, it’s important to continue to make sure affairs are in order, and your estate plans and incapacity plans are up to date.

Meet our Experts

Recognised expertise in energy law, with industry awards acknowledging leadership in regulatory compliance and commercial strategy. We understand market mechanics, operational challenges, and the commercial pressures shaping energy businesses.

Yule Guttenbeil

Principal

Meet Principal Yule Guttenbeil

Energy Law FAQ

To operate as an energy retailer in the National Energy Market (NEM), you must obtain a retailer authorisation from the relevant regulator. Under the National Energy Retail Law (NERL), the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) assesses applications against three entry criteria:

Organisational and technical capacity — demonstrating the systems, staff expertise, and operational capability to meet the obligations of a retailer.

Financial viability — evidencing the financial resources and capacity to sustain retail operations and meet regulatory obligations.

Suitability — satisfying the AER that the applicant (including its directors and key personnel) is a suitable entity to hold a retailer authorisation.

Most Australian states and territories operate under the National Energy Customer Framework (NECF), which provides a harmonised regulatory regime for the retail sale of electricity and gas. However, Victoria maintains its own energy retail laws and regulators — including the Essential Services Commission — which impose separate licensing requirements. There is considerable nuance in how energy laws apply across jurisdictions, and this must be carefully accounted for when seeking registration. If you intend to purchase energy through the wholesale market, you will also need to apply for registration with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). We approach the licensing process as a project, given the number of moving parts involved.

The energy market registration process can take anywhere from approximately 6 to 12 months, depending on a range of commercial, technical, and regulatory variables. Once the AER receives a complete application, a formal public consultation period of 20 business days applies, but in practice the overall timeline is significantly longer. AEMO’s own registration assessment must be completed within 15 business days of receiving a complete application, though assembling a complete application is itself a substantial undertaking.

Key factors influencing the timeline include:

The complexity of your proposed commercial and technical arrangements.
Sequencing and collection of the necessary information, systems, and capabilities to satisfy the application requirements.
The time taken by regulators to assess the application and for the applicant to respond to any requisitions or requests for further information.

Given these variables, early and thorough preparation is essential to managing the overall timeframe.

Embedded network operators require a full suite of documentation to ensure regulatory compliance. Because embedded network providers bill customers within the network directly, they effectively operate as an intermediary between the upstream energy supplier and each end-use customer. This means they must comply with energy sale regulations and billing requirements in a manner similar to a standard authorised energy retailer.

Key regulatory documentation and obligations include:

Compliance with the AER’s Retail Exempt Selling Guideline and the Electricity Network Service Provider Registration Exemption Guideline, which set out the conditions for exempt sellers and distributors.

Meeting billing obligations, including the requirement to display energy ombudsman contact details on customer bills.

Reporting obligations, such as annual reporting of customer numbers to the AER and notification of any changes to the exempt entity’s contact details.

In Victoria, additional compliance with Energy Safe Victoria’s technical and safety requirements for embedded network metering and electrical installations.

The regulatory landscape for embedded networks is evolving — the AER completed a review of its embedded networks exemption framework in 2025, introducing strengthened consumer protections and new compliance conditions. Engaging specialist legal advice early is strongly recommended to ensure all documentation and compliance requirements are met.

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