The AER is required to make an access arrangement final decision within six months of receipt of Country Energy’s proposal to approve or not approve the access arrangement proposal. This period can be extended by the AER but must be completed within 13 months.
The AER is required to follow a prescribed decision making process under the National Gas Rules (NGR) when reviewing the access arrangement for the Wagga Wagga distribution network.
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Scheduled dates for key stages in the decision making process |
Scheduled date |
|---|---|
|
Publish proposal |
22 July 2009 |
|
Forum on proposal in Wagga Wagga * |
28 July 2009 |
|
Submissions on proposal |
11 September 2009 |
|
Release of draft decision |
12 November 2009 |
|
Forum on draft decision |
19 November 2009 |
|
Revised proposal to be submitted |
6 February 2010 |
|
Submissions on draft decision |
12 February 2010 |
|
Release of final decision |
early April 2010 |
* Steps not mandated under the NGR.
Stop the clock
The AER made the following decisions under rule 11 of the NGR.
Consultation process on access arrangement proposal
As required under the NGR, the AER decided that the period of 51 days for consultation on the proposal was not counted towards the decision making time for the full access arrangement final decision.
Draft decision consultation
The AER has decided that a period of 92 days for submissions on the draft decision is not counted towards the decision making time for the full access arrangement final decision. This includes an overlapping period of 55 days for Country Energy to submit a revised proposal.