Faced with surging rooftop solar, rapid electrification and mounting pressure on the grid, South Australia couldn't afford to wait.  

SA Power Networks CEO, Andrew Bills, has urged the energy industry, market bodies and governments to accelerate — and stay the course on — critical energy reform, to secure a better future for Australian households, businesses and the economy. 

In a keynote address at Australian Energy Week 2025, Mr Bills outlined four essential reforms that needed to progress quickly to help unlock value for customers in the next phase of Australia’s energy transition — warning that without national alignment, customer trust is at risk. 

The reforms include: 

1. Interoperability standards so devices and systems work together 
2. Retail pricing reform — paired with government support — to reward flexibility and improve access to enabling technology 
3. Balanced investment signals across supply and demand 
4. Regulatory models that empower smarter investment choices by networks

“Waiting for perfection simply isn’t an option because every delay adds complexity, cost and missed opportunity for consumers, businesses and the economy,” said Mr Bills. 

“We’re asking a lot from customers — electrify your home, buy an EV, trust that your bills will come down. But too often, the experience doesn’t match the expectation. That gap — between expectation and lived experience — is precarious.”

He emphasised that absent the commitment to, and acceleration of key reforms, more vulnerable customers risk being locked out of the benefits of the energy transition — as prices rise to fund unnecessary infrastructure instead of making smarter use of what already exists.

Crucially, he stressed that customers shouldn’t have to work harder to benefit.

“People don’t want to monitor apps or manage tariffs. They want their homes to do more for them — reducing bills and emissions, without reducing comfort or control.”

“We’re not starting from scratch,” Bills said. “South Australia has set a national blueprint within the regulatory framework we already have. What we need now is the national will — to scale what works and close the trust gap before it grows wider.”

Bills’ keynote “DSO: The Superpower of the Energy Transition” - is a call to action for stronger, faster collaboration across the energy market — to ensure the whole system delivers on the expectations of Australian customers.

Bills explained that SA Power Networks is no longer just a distribution network, but the country’s most advanced Distribution System Operator. And by working together to accelerate these critical reforms, other jurisdictions could “leap over some of the hurdles that South Australia had to crash through.” 

“Now, I know ‘DSO’ can mean different things to different people,” Bills said. “To us, it means we’re not just managing poles and wires anymore. We’re managing a system — actively orchestrating how energy flows, not just from large generators to homes, but from homes, from businesses, and back again — all in real time.”

In South Australia, smarter use of local energy — through flexible connections, local marketplaces, and system integration — is already working to deliver: 

• Lower peak demand and reduced pressure on the grid 
• Income opportunities for households with solar, batteries and smart appliances 
• Avoided infrastructure upgrades, helping keep future bills lower 
• More affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for communities

Rather than treating DSO as a future ambition, Bills positioned it as a role SA Power Networks is already playing — unlocking more value from infrastructure and technology customers have already paid for.

That early action — born of necessity — is now proving to be a national asset. 

Read the keynote speech by Andrew Bills