The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has today released its preliminary view on what amendments should be made to its 2012-15 determination to address the Tribunal’s views.
On 14 September 2012, SP AusNet provided a submission in response to the AER’s preliminary view, which included a consultancy report from DNV KEMA. Please note that SP AusNet has only allowed the AER to publish certain parts of the report from DNV KEMA, on which its response relies.
Background
On 31 October 2011, the AER released its final determination on the 2012-15 budget and charges applications for the Victorian DNSPs. In its final determination for SP AusNet, the AER concluded that in relation to certain expenditure, SP AusNet had substantially departed from the commercial standard that a reasonable business would exercise in the circumstances. The AER considered SP AusNet should have reconsidered its decision to proceed with its AMI rollout using WiMAX communications technology.
SP AusNet sought merits and judicial review of this determination. On 26 April 2012, the Australian Competition Tribunal remitted the AER’s determination back to the AER to further consider SP AusNet’s decision to proceed with WiMAX communications technology, and certain expenditure related to that decision. On 5 June 2012, SP AusNet provided a submission reconsidering its choice of communications technology, following a request from the AER.
Invitation for submissions
The AER is inviting submissions from interested parties on its preliminary view and SP AusNet’s submissions. Submissions should be sent electronically to amibudgetandchargesreview
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (amibudgetandchargesreview[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) by 5pm AEDT on Tuesday, 30 October 2012.
The AER prefers that all submissions be sent in an electronic format in Microsoft Word or other text readable document form and publicly available, to facilitate an informed, transparent and robust consultation process. Accordingly, submissions will be treated as public documents and posted on the AER's website, except and unless prior arrangements are made with the AER to treat the submission, or portions of it, as confidential. Parties wishing to submit confidential information are requested to:
- clearly identify the information that is the subject of the confidentiality claim; and
- provide a non-confidential version of the submission.