On 23 December 2005 GasNet lodged an application under section 8.21 of the Gas Code seeking the ACCC’s agreement that forecast capital expenditure (new facilities investment) to extend the southwest pipeline from Lara to Brooklyn will meet the requirements of s. 8.16(a) of the Gas Code. The effect of such an agreement was to bind the ACCC’s decision when it considered revisions to GasNet’s Access Arrangement in 2007, in particular, the rolling-in of the investment into the capital base.
With the exception of GasNet's proposed contingency allowance, the ACCC considered that GasNet's proposed new facilities investment met the requirements of s. 8.16(a) of the Gas Code. However, this decision did not extend to how these new investment woiuld be rolled into GasNet’s capital base at the commencement of the next Access Arrangement in 2007.