The Ministerial Council on Energy (now Standing Council on Energy and Resources) endorsed the introduction of a new chapter 5A: Electricity connection for retail customers to the National Electricity Rules. The dates for the full implementation of Chapter 5A are yet to be determined by each Jurisdiction of the national electricity market. Under chapter 5A, the AER is required to develop and publish connection charge guidelines on how Electricity Distribution Network Service Providers should charge new electricity customers for connecting to their networks.
Following the consultation process, including the publication of a consultation paper (10 June 2011), and a draft connection charge guideline and explanatory statement (22 December 2011), the AER released its connection charge guideline, Connection charge guidelines under chapter 5A of the National Electricity Rules, for retail customers accessing the electricity distribution network and the Final Decision document, which explain the AER’s reasons, today.
To complement the connection charge guideline, the AER is also publishing a fact sheet to explain the framework and the key features of the guideline to a less specialised audience. The fact sheet is intended to provide a simplified summary of the guideline as well as general information about network connection matters.