AER Chair Puts Risk & Compliance at the Forefront of Market Transformation

AER Chair Puts Risk & Compliance at the Forefront of Market Transformation

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Key Takeaways
  • Regulators Face Dual Pressures: Clare Savage highlighted that the rapid pace of market change, driven by the energy transition, digitalisation, and AI, creates both opportunities and significant compliance risks.
  • Technology as a Risk Driver: While innovation reshapes service delivery, it also introduces new risks of misconduct, unfair practices, and systemic vulnerabilities that regulators must anticipate.
  • Collaboration as Risk Mitigation: Savage stressed that regulators cannot operate in silos; industry, academia, consumer groups, and peer regulators must work together to strengthen oversight and compliance.
  • Consumers as the Benchmark: Fair prices, stronger protections, and improved services remain the ultimate measures of effective risk management and compliance frameworks.
  • Balancing Speed with Care: Regulators must act quickly when risks demand it, but Savage warned that speed without purpose can amplify compliance failures.
Deep Dive

Australian Energy Regulator (AER) Chair Clare Savage has warned that regulators must be prepared to navigate the twin challenges of speed and complexity as markets transform, urging that risk awareness and compliance discipline remain central to regulatory responses.

Speaking at Energy Networks Australia’s annual Regulation Seminar and again at the 2025 ACCC/AER Regulatory Conference in Brisbane, Savage framed her remarks around four pressing realities for regulators: the rapid pace of market change, the disruptive influence of technology, the necessity of collaboration, and the need to keep consumers at the centre of decision-making.

Markets, she observed, are evolving faster than ever, shaped by the energy transition, digitalisation, and the rise of artificial intelligence. This acceleration, she said, creates a double-edged sword: opportunities for efficiency and innovation on one hand, and heightened risks of instability, consumer harm, and regulatory gaps on the other. “This speed creates both opportunity and risk,” Savage noted, highlighting the compliance challenge of keeping frameworks relevant and resilient.

Technology, while transformative, poses its own risks. For regulators, the task is to adapt frameworks that can encourage innovation but also prevent misconduct, unfair practices, or systemic vulnerabilities. In a risk and compliance context, this means designing rules that are flexible yet firm, agile yet anchored in evidence.

Savage also stressed that regulators cannot face these risks in isolation. Effective oversight, she argued, requires collaboration across industries, academia, consumer groups, and regulatory peers. Only by drawing on a broad set of perspectives can regulators anticipate emerging risks and design compliance mechanisms that serve the public interest.

But above all, she said, consumer protection must remain the ultimate benchmark. Whether through pricing fairness, stronger safeguards, or improved service delivery, the true test of regulatory success is how well risk management and compliance outcomes align with the needs of the people.

Still, Savage cautioned against mistaking urgency for strategy. Regulators, she warned, cannot afford to move too slowly, but nor can they rush into frameworks that are untested or incomplete.

“The art of regulation lies in knowing when to move quickly and when to proceed with care,” she said, reminding her audience that in the world of risk and compliance, timing is often as critical as intent.

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