The Australian Energy Regulator has decided that in order to consult further with stakeholders, the final decision on Victorian distributors’ revised tariff structure statements will now be made by 26 August 2016, rather than the original date of 29 July 2016.
CitiPower, Powercor, AusNet Services, United Energy and Jemena submitted revised tariff structure statements to the AER on 29 April 2016. The revised proposals were submitted in accordance with the Victorian Government’s direction announced in December that cost reflective tariffs must be offered on an opt-in basis. New tariffs are to commence from 1 January 2017.
The Victorian Government made amendments to the AMI Tariffs Order on 14 April 2016 to formally apply its direction.
The revised tariff structure statements are sufficiently different from the initial proposals submitted by the Victorian businesses that we have decided stakeholders should be afforded additional time to file comments.
Stakeholder forum
In addition, we will host a public forum on Tuesday 31 May 2016 to provide stakeholders with our preliminary views on the revised proposals. A summary of our preliminary views will be posted on our website before the forum. Formal submissions to our preliminary views on the revised proposal should be made by Wednesday 16 June to VicTSS2015
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (VicTSS2015[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au). If you are yet to subscribe to tariff structure statement updates, please register your interest via the AER subscription service.
Date: Tuesday 31 May 2016
Time: 10am to 12 noon
Venue: AER office, level 35, 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
To register your attendance, please send an email to VicTSS2015aer [dot] gov [dot] au (VicTSS2015[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) by noon Monday 30 May 2016.
Changes to timetables
The changes to the Victorian timeframe will also impact our assessment of New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and South Australia electricity distributors’ tariff structure statements. Draft decisions on the businesses’ proposed tariff statements will now be issued no later than 29 July 2016, rather than the original date of 1 July. Final determinations will be issued no later than 27 February 2017 rather than 30 January 2017.
None of the above dates will impact the implementation of approved tariff structure statements next year. The Victorian distributors are required to submit their 2017 annual tariffs by the end of September 2016 and the non-Victorian distributors (except TasNetworks) are required to submit their 2017–18 tariffs by the end of March 2017.
The timeframe for making a draft decision on Tasmania’s tariff structure statement will not change. This is due to be made in September 2016, the same time as its draft decision distribution determination.