Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are changing how retailers engage customers and participate in the National Electricity Market (NEM). By coordinating behind-the-meter batteries, Solar PV, EV chargers and flexible loads, VPPs can respond to fast-moving wholesale prices and deliver grid services.
Turning that activity into clear, accurate customer payments demands billing platforms that ingest revenue-grade interval data, apply dynamic tariffs and reconcile market settlements without manual rework.
Why “Real-time” Integration Matters
Since the NEM moved to five-minute settlement, price signals and financial outcomes align on five-minute intervals.
Effective VPP billing maps customer exports and services to those intervals, combines them with network charges and produces auditable outputs. Retail billing typically consumes validated interval data in AEMO’s Meter Data File Format (MDFF) NEM12/NEM13 formats, so automated validation/substitution and proper handling of data flags are essential for accuracy and dispute resolution.
The Regulatory Building Blocks
Revenue metering used for billing must comply with National Measurement Institute (NMI) M 6-1 requirements, including pattern approval and accuracy classes (e.g., Class 0.5S for high-value transactions).
NITP-14 sets National Instrument Test Procedures for electricity meter verification; it’s about ensuring meters are verified correctly, not a communications protocol.
On the market side, AEMO’s metrology and MDFF specifications define data formats and how interval data is validated and substituted for settlement purposes. Where projects generate LGCs, the Clean Energy Regulator expects accurate, verifiable and traceable metering evidence.
What “Good” Looks Like for VPP Billing
A robust VPP billing stack collects revenue-grade meter data, validates it automatically, applies five-minute price signals and network tariffs and separates energy export revenues from grid-services payments (e.g., FCAS).
The platform should maintain auditable trails end-to-end—meter read, validation, tariff application and settlement reconciliation, so cash flow remains predictable and customer communications are clear.
Practical Architecture Tips
Think in Layers
Metering and comms
Data collection/MDM
Pricing and tariff engine
Settlement and reporting
Customer-facing transparency
Data collection should tolerate outages (with onboard logging and backfill) and support remote tariff updates. The tariff engine needs the flexibility to combine wholesale pass-through, TOU/demand charges and VPP service payments, all aligned to five-minute intervals.
Finally, reporting should surface the “why” behind each line item so customers can understand and optimise their participation.
Keep it simple and scalable:
Align everything to five-minute intervals (metering, pricing, settlement).
Keep export revenue and grid-services revenue in distinct ledgers.
Where SATEC Fits
SATEC supplies revenue-grade metering and a cloud data layer that slot neatly into the stack retailers already operate.
Our EM133-XM meter is designed for revenue applications and supports Class 0.5S accuracy with communications options suitable for automated acquisition. Expertpower, our Azure-hosted platform, collects and manages meter data, provides analytics and reporting and integrates with third-party billing engines via APIs.
For projects pursuing LGCs, our metering and documentation support the evidence requirements expected by the Clean Energy Regulator.
The Bottom Line
Australia’s VPP opportunity is significant but it depends on disciplined billing: revenue-grade metering, standards-based data handling and tariff engines that truly operate at five-minute granularity.
Retailers who build to those principles reduce manual effort, lift customer trust and stay ready as VPP participation scales.
Contact the SATEC team to find out more.
Frequently Asked Questions - VPP Billing Software
What is real-time tariff integration and why does it matter for VPP billing?
It’s the automatic ingestion of live price signals into the billing engine so retailers can calculate customer rewards instantly for exports and grid services, reducing manual errors and improving cash-flow accuracy across volatile, time-of-use tariffs.
Which Australian rules and standards does VPP billing need to meet?
VPP billing must align with NMI M6-1 revenue metering accuracy, use NITP-14 data communication formats, and follow AEMO settlement guidelines, ensuring transparent calculations, standardised data, and audit trails across all participants.
How do SATEC meters support accurate VPP settlements?
SATEC’s EM133-XM delivers Class 0.5S accuracy with NATA-traceable certification, Ethernet and 4G communications, robust data logging and remote configuration—providing sub-second, validated interval data that underpins precise time-of-use and multi-tariff billing.
Can the software handle multi-party and multi-stream billing?
Yes. Modern platforms reconcile energy exports, network support payments and grid-services revenue in parallel, accounting for losses, transformer ratios, and connection points, and coordinating settlement timing to keep retailer and customer statements aligned.
