On a small 3-phase property in Adelaide, I have installed a new 8kW Rooftop☀️PV system DC-coupled to a new 48kWh GFM/SI🔋, with a 3-phase Gateway with 10kW GFM/SI Inverters on each phase, and I have moved from a traditional Gentailer (Engie) to a Wholesale VPP, Amber Electric.
When I read about your specified “clearer Consumer Energy Resource (CER) framework that may need to separate the bargains, and the 4 layers you define in 4 broad groups, I can provide feedback on how my CHBP system has performed in the last 7 months.
1. Private household optimization: The household uses its assets for savings, resilience, comfort, mobility and exposure management. My CHBP System meets all of these layer 1 specifications.
2. Minimum technical behavior: Standards, wiring rules and connection agreements protect safety, voltage, frequency, phase balance and network stability. My CHBP System meets all of these layer 2 specifications.
3. Event-based response: Households are invited to help during rare periods of system or network stress, with clear alerts, defined windows and visible rewards. Because I am with Amber Electric, a Wholesale VPP, my CHBP System meets all of these layer 3 specifications, courtesy of Amber Electric’s AI SmartShift App.
4. Contracted system service: A defined capability is purchased and relied on, such as capacity, reserve, network deferral, dispatch rights, or guaranteed demand reduction. Because I am with Amber Electric, a Wholesale VPP, my CHBP System meets all of these layer 4 specifications, courtesy of Amber Electric’s AI SmartShift App.
I am one of >400,000 (>11.2 GWh) new CHBP clients identified by Chris Bowen in the last 10 months. I live in urban Adelaide, SA.
Because I installed Rooftop☀️PV at my home for the 1st time, it took about 1.5 months for the DNSP and Amber to set up my account. I can see in my Amber Electric Smartshift App that, after 30 days, my electricity bill for the month is > $100 in credit.
During the Australia Day spike, I made >$600.
I will never pay wholesale or retail prices for electricity again. I expect to earn money from now on.
If the old centralized analog grid system wishes to play games with me to test me, I am prepared to disconnect from the grid and operate as a stand-alone “Power Island.”
I meant “ask” as a trusted scarcity signal, not standing aggregator or VPP access. The better framing is probably:
"The system should reveal genuine need, not seek control."
Outside declared stress conditions, the asset is the household’s. During a clearly forecast and declared window, the asset owner can choose to act voluntarily: charge earlier, protect their own reserve, reduce demand, or make surplus available under strict limits.
That voluntary response will not give the operator certainty in the way RERT or a contracted reserve does. A contract buys certainty, and certainty has a cost. But over time, observed consumer response to trusted signals may still moderate the need for expensive reserve action, as we are starting to see with CHBP-style behaviour.
So the distinction may be:
"A trusted signal can shape voluntary behaviour; a contract buys firm certainty."
The important guardrail is that voluntary response should not become a back door into ongoing control. Protected reserve, defined purpose, visible value, clear override and no standing access remain essential.
There may be a research project here: whether trusted scarcity signals can create observable voluntary response that moderates future reserve needs, while keeping clear the difference between behaviour shaped by a signal and certainty bought through contract.
Much appreciated, as always, the language matters here.
Geoff,
Interesting read.
As of October 2025, I am a new CHBP customer.
On a small 3-phase property in Adelaide, I have installed a new 8kW Rooftop☀️PV system DC-coupled to a new 48kWh GFM/SI🔋, with a 3-phase Gateway with 10kW GFM/SI Inverters on each phase, and I have moved from a traditional Gentailer (Engie) to a Wholesale VPP, Amber Electric.
When I read about your specified “clearer Consumer Energy Resource (CER) framework that may need to separate the bargains, and the 4 layers you define in 4 broad groups, I can provide feedback on how my CHBP system has performed in the last 7 months.
1. Private household optimization: The household uses its assets for savings, resilience, comfort, mobility and exposure management. My CHBP System meets all of these layer 1 specifications.
2. Minimum technical behavior: Standards, wiring rules and connection agreements protect safety, voltage, frequency, phase balance and network stability. My CHBP System meets all of these layer 2 specifications.
3. Event-based response: Households are invited to help during rare periods of system or network stress, with clear alerts, defined windows and visible rewards. Because I am with Amber Electric, a Wholesale VPP, my CHBP System meets all of these layer 3 specifications, courtesy of Amber Electric’s AI SmartShift App.
4. Contracted system service: A defined capability is purchased and relied on, such as capacity, reserve, network deferral, dispatch rights, or guaranteed demand reduction. Because I am with Amber Electric, a Wholesale VPP, my CHBP System meets all of these layer 4 specifications, courtesy of Amber Electric’s AI SmartShift App.
I am one of >400,000 (>11.2 GWh) new CHBP clients identified by Chris Bowen in the last 10 months. I live in urban Adelaide, SA.
https://lnkd.in/gKZm49ih
Because I installed Rooftop☀️PV at my home for the 1st time, it took about 1.5 months for the DNSP and Amber to set up my account. I can see in my Amber Electric Smartshift App that, after 30 days, my electricity bill for the month is > $100 in credit.
During the Australia Day spike, I made >$600.
I will never pay wholesale or retail prices for electricity again. I expect to earn money from now on.
If the old centralized analog grid system wishes to play games with me to test me, I am prepared to disconnect from the grid and operate as a stand-alone “Power Island.”
now
Tim, thanks, this has helped sharpen the wording.
I meant “ask” as a trusted scarcity signal, not standing aggregator or VPP access. The better framing is probably:
"The system should reveal genuine need, not seek control."
Outside declared stress conditions, the asset is the household’s. During a clearly forecast and declared window, the asset owner can choose to act voluntarily: charge earlier, protect their own reserve, reduce demand, or make surplus available under strict limits.
That voluntary response will not give the operator certainty in the way RERT or a contracted reserve does. A contract buys certainty, and certainty has a cost. But over time, observed consumer response to trusted signals may still moderate the need for expensive reserve action, as we are starting to see with CHBP-style behaviour.
So the distinction may be:
"A trusted signal can shape voluntary behaviour; a contract buys firm certainty."
The important guardrail is that voluntary response should not become a back door into ongoing control. Protected reserve, defined purpose, visible value, clear override and no standing access remain essential.
There may be a research project here: whether trusted scarcity signals can create observable voluntary response that moderates future reserve needs, while keeping clear the difference between behaviour shaped by a signal and certainty bought through contract.
Much appreciated, as always, the language matters here.
Nailed it again Geoff. There’s a real companion building here … like a “NEM Cookbook” (no cannibalism allowed ; )