Type 9 Metering and Secondary Settlement Points: What is Needed from a Monitoring Platform
Two changes have landed in Australia’s metering rules this year and most facilities and energy teams have only really planned for one of them, if either.
Type 9 metering formalised how street furniture gets measured. Secondary settlement points, arriving under the Flexible Trading Arrangements reform on 1 November 2026, change how flexible assets such as batteries and EV chargers get billed. Both reforms are less about buying a new meter and more about whether the platform behind that meter can actually do the job.
If you already know how the nine metering installation types work or how secondary settlement points are structured end to end, this is not that article. This one is a checklist for asset owners asking a narrower question: what does a monitoring platform need to handle before the November changes take effect.
Key Points
- Type 9 formalises metering for street furniture such as kerbside EV chargers, parking meters and smart poles, using the COMMS9 and COMMS9CM installation codes from 31 May 2026.
- An AEMC rule change finalised in April 2026 replaced specific meter type requirements with a general standard: metering must have remote acquisition capability for trading interval data.
- Secondary settlement points, live from 1 November 2026, require a platform that can cleanly separate and reconcile primary and secondary consumption at one premises.
- Only large customers can appoint a second financially responsible market participant for a secondary settlement point; small customers remain on a single retailer.
- COMMS9 and COMMS9CM installations need different communications handling, since one device reporting alone is a different technical problem to several devices reporting through a central management system.
- Expertpower turns interval data from NMI approved meters such as the EM133-XM and BFM136 into settlement-ready, audit-traceable reports, closing the gap between what the rules now require and what most monitoring setups can currently produce.
Type 9 Closes a Long-Standing Gap for Street Furniture
Kerbside EV chargers, parking meters, smart poles and public lighting drawing under 750 MWh a year previously had no clearly defined metering category. Type 9 fixed that from 31 May 2026, using two installation codes: COMMS9 for a single device and COMMS9CM for multiple devices reporting through a central management system.
For councils, EV charging network operators and property owners with public-facing infrastructure, this converts what used to be an informal reading into a formal metering obligation with its own communications requirements.
The Requirement Is Now About Capability, Not a Meter Type
The AEMC’s final rule in April 2026 changed the underlying logic. Instead of naming specific meter types as eligible for secondary settlement points, the rule now requires metering with remote acquisition capability for trading interval data.
That is a meaningful shift for asset owners. It means an existing interval meter may already be technically eligible, while the actual gap sits in the platform that collects, validates and reports that data.
Secondary Settlement Points Demand Clean Data Separation
A secondary settlement point measures one asset, a battery, an EV charger, a solar array, separately from a site’s main connection point so it can be settled financially in its own right.
Getting this right means a platform has to split primary and secondary consumption cleanly and apply subtractive settlement without someone doing it by hand in a spreadsheet every billing cycle.
A platform that cannot separate these two data streams automatically turns a straightforward reform into a manual reconciliation job.
Not Every Customer Gets the Same Reporting Path
Only large customers can appoint a second financially responsible market participant for a secondary settlement point. Small customers stay with a single retailer regardless of how many flexible assets they add.
For embedded networks or portfolios with a mix of customer sizes, this means a monitoring platform needs to support two reporting paths at once rather than assuming every site follows the same rules.
Communications Architecture Matters as Much as the Meter
COMMS9 and COMMS9CM are not interchangeable and the difference is entirely about communications, not measurement accuracy.
A single kerbside charger reporting on its own is a different technical problem to twelve chargers reporting through one central management system. Asset owners with multiple Type 9 devices at one site need a platform that can aggregate that data without losing visibility down to the individual device.
The Expertpower Approach
Expertpower takes interval data from NMI approved meters, including the EM133-XM and BFM136, and structures it into settlement-ready, audit-traceable reports rather than a raw data export someone still has to interpret.
The platform separates primary and secondary settlement point data automatically, which removes the manual reconciliation step that catches most sites out.
For asset owners managing a mix of customer types or multiple Type 9 devices on one connection, that structure is the difference between a compliance headache and a routine reporting task.
What to Look for in a Type 9 and Secondary Settlement Point Ready Platform
| Requirement | Why It Matters | How Expertpower Delivers It |
|---|---|---|
| Interval data capture, not periodic reads | The 2026 rule change requires remote acquisition capable metering for secondary settlement point eligibility | Collects and stores interval data from NMI approved EM133-XM and BFM136 meters |
| Primary and secondary point separation | Subtractive settlement needs a clean split of energy at one premises | Automatically separates and reconciles primary and secondary settlement point data |
| Multi-device communications handling | COMMS9CM installations report several devices through one central management system | Aggregates multi-circuit data from BFM136 while keeping per-device visibility |
| Support for mixed customer segments | Large customers can use secondary settlement points, small customers cannot | Configurable reporting tiers for embedded networks with mixed customer bases |
| Audit-ready reporting | The new NMI Service Provider role adds scrutiny on data traceability from 1 November 2026 | Produces NMI-traceable reports straight from certified metering hardware |
| Australian-hosted data | Asset owners are increasingly asked where their energy data lives | Hosted on Australian Microsoft Azure infrastructure |
Talk to SATEC
If your site has kerbside assets, on-site batteries or EV chargers that could benefit from separate settlement, it is worth checking now whether your current monitoring setup can handle interval data, device-level communications and audit-ready reporting before 1 November 2026.
Talk to SATEC about reviewing your metering fleet against these requirements or explore how the Expertpower platform handles settlement-ready reporting today.
FAQs - Type 9 Metering and Secondary Settlement Points
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What is a Type 9 metering installation?
Type 9 covers street furniture assets, such as kerbside EV chargers, parking meters, smart poles and public lighting, drawing under 750 MWh a year, which previously had no defined metering category. It uses the COMMS9 code for a single device and COMMS9CM for multiple devices reporting through a central management system, and took effect from 31 May 2026.
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What is a secondary settlement point, and who can use one?
A secondary settlement point measures a specific asset, such as a battery, EV charger or solar array, separately from a site's main connection point so it can be settled financially on its own. From 1 November 2026 this is available to large customers who want a second financially responsible market participant, while small customers stay on a single retailer arrangement.
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Do I need new meters for Type 9 or secondary settlement points?
Not necessarily. The April 2026 rule change moved away from naming specific meter types and now requires metering with remote acquisition capability for trading interval data, so an existing interval meter may already qualify. What most sites actually need to upgrade is the reporting platform behind it.
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How does Expertpower fit into these changes?
Expertpower takes interval data from NMI approved meters such as the EM133-XM and BFM136 and structures it into settlement-ready reports, separating primary and secondary consumption automatically where needed. That gives asset owners and their Metering Coordinators the audit trail these reforms require without a manual reconciliation step.
