On Friday 26 June 2020 the AER published our draft working paper on energy network debt data. It considers updated debt data collected from networks and examines potential implications for the upcoming 2022 rate of return instrument review. The paper is accompanied by a 2019 report from Chairmont.

The draft working paper:

• extends the Energy Infrastructure Credit Spread Index (EICSI), an index of industry debt costs first developed during the 2018 review.
• adapts previous work done analysing the average term of debt.
• discusses how the extended data could be used in estimating the regulated return on debt, credit rating and term.

We invited interested parties to make submissions on our draft working paper on network debt data. Submissions closed on 14 August 2020.

We received five submissions after the closing date.

On 29 July 2020 we hosted an online forum to present key points from our draft working paper and hear some stakeholder perspectives on the issues.

The AER would like to thank those who presented at the forum, as well as those who were able to attend on the day to listen to the views of other stakeholders.