The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) received ActewAGL Distribution’s (ActewAGL) 2015–2019 regulatory proposal on 2 June 2014.
The AER considers that the information provided in ActewAGL’s regulatory proposal does not meet the requirements of the National Electricity Rules (NER).
The AER has issued ActewAGL with a notice, under clause 6.9.1(a) of the NER, to resubmit its regulatory proposal.
The AER’s reasons for determining that ActewAGL’s regulatory proposal does not meet the requirements of the NER are:
- ActewAGL’s proposal on debt averaging periods (which did not nominate averaging periods for the regulatory years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19) does not enable a formula to be specified in the distribution determination and be automatically applied; and
- ActewAGL did not identify its proposal on debt averaging periods as a departure from the AER’s Rate of return guideline, nor did it provide reasons for this departure.
ActewAGL must resubmit its regulatory proposal within 20 business days of receiving the notice. ActewAGL may only make changes to its regulatory proposal or accompanying information to address the deficiencies identified in the notice.
The AER cannot commence its statutory consultation processes on the regulatory proposal until it has received a submission, or resubmission, which is compliant with the NER. Accordingly, ActewAGL’s failure to submit a compliant regulatory proposal will delay the publication of the proposal on the AER website and the commencement of the submission process. It will also likely delay the timing of the public forum (the AER previously advised this was due to occur on 14 July 2014).