Electricity trial to pay users to cut power during high demand or natural disasters

Arena and Aemo to trial program that would pay South Australian and Victorian customers to reduce their use

South Australian and Victorian electricity users will be paid to voluntarily forego power use during times of extreme stress on the power grid under a trial program announced by national energy regulators.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) and the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) are looking to trial the program next summer, following outages earlier this year in South Australia and New South Wales caused by "an unprecedented level of demand".