On 21 December 2017, the AER put out its position paper and invited submissions from interested parties on issues related to the remaking of our debt decision for electricity distributors – Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, Essential Energy and Actew AGL - for the period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2019 and Jemena Gas Networks for the 2015-20 access arrangement period.

On 18 January 2018 the Full Federal Court handed down SA power Networks v Australian Competition Tribunal (No 2) [2018] FCAFC 3. This was a review application from Application by SA power networks [2016] AComptT 11.

In our debt position paper we indicated we would consider the decision of the Full Court for SA Power Networks when it was handed down. We consider this Full Court decision handed down on 18 January supports our proposed approach to apply a revenue neutral debt transition in the remitted debt decisions. Our revenue neutral debt transition approach was developed following the Tribunal decisions that gave rise to the current remittals. It was recently upheld in relation to Victorian electricity distributors and ActewAGL gas (as discussed in the debt position paper). We invite interested stakeholders to review the decision of the Full Court and comment on it, or comment on our view it supports our proposed remitted debt approach to apply a revenue neutral debt transition, in their submissions to our debt position paper.

We extended the deadline for submissions on the AER position paper on the remitted debt decisions from 10 February 2018 to 24 February 2018 to ensure that interested parties have sufficient time to fully consider and comment on the Full Federal Court decision SA Power Networks v Australian Competition Tribunal (No 2) [2018] FCAFC 3 in any submissions.

Submissions on our debt decision position paper closed on 24 February 2018.

In February 2016 the Australian Competition Tribunal remitted to the AER to make its constituent decision on capital expenditure. There will not be an issues paper on capital expenditure. Instead, the AER hosted a roundtable meeting with JGN and the AER's Consumer Challenge Panel - subpanel 10 (CCP) on 18 January 2018. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and work toward a potential resolution on the AER's 2015-20 set aside determination on market expansion capital expenditure (ME capex). Issues discussed at the meeting included the AER's proposed approach to remaking the ME capex decision, JGN's response to the AER's proposed approach, JGN's ME capex to date for the currently regulatory period, and the CCP's view on the remittal process and expectations from the consumer perspective. The slides from the meeting are presented below. At the meeting, JGN noted that it had reviewed the AER's model and agreed that it implements the AER's preferred approach. JGN committed to working constructively with the AER as it finalises its review of ME capex. Parties did not raise any outstanding issues about the AER's proposed ME capex allowance. The AER will aim to release its draft decision for stakeholder consultation in the first half of 2018.