On 3 December 2024, Ergon Energy applied to the AER to renew its waiver for the Mareeba and Charters Towers depots to be treated as regional offices for the purposes of ring-fencing.

The waiver would allow co-location of staff, staff sharing, and shared branding between Ergon Energy and its related entities at these offices, consistent with the standard requirements of regional offices.

Ergon Energy’s current waiver for these offices is due to expire 30 June 2025. This waiver was provided on the condition that staff in these offices are limited to maintenance and installation of network infrastructure and metering (excluding behind-the-meter services). 

Ergon Energy has requested a new waiver with no conditions, so that staff from Ergon’s related entities may provide any contestable service from these two offices. 

In February 2025, Ergon submitted a letter of addendum to propose that this new waiver would expire 30 June 2045.

We invite stakeholders to provide written submissions by 7 May 2025. Submissions and requests to make a submission via alternative methods should be emailed to AERringfencingaer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERringfencing[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au). 

We prefer to make written submissions publicly available, to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process. We will treat written submissions as public documents unless otherwise requested.