Type
Communications
Sector
Electricity
Segment
Transmission
Wholesale
Issue date

The AER has published a consultation paper on proposed amendments to the cost benefit analysis (CBA) guidelines and regulatory investment tests (RIT-T & RIT-D) application guidelines. The CBA and RIT guidelines provide guidance to proponents conducting a RIT, which is a cost-benefit test that network businesses must undertake before building electricity network infrastructure. 

Proposed amendments to the guidelines will only apply to new network projects following the finalisation of this review.

To facilitate stakeholder feedback, we will be consulting individually on three main aspects of the review: 

  • how to include emissions reductions as class of market benefits
  • the implementation of recent and open AEMC rule changes, and
  • ways to reflect social licence issues in the Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission (RIT-T). 

We encourage stakeholders interested in the first two items to register for the upcoming public forums held by the AER. The registration link and details for each stakeholder forum are outlined below. 

The AER will also be facilitating stakeholder forums on social licence to seek views on how addressing social licence issues are reflected in the RIT-T, and ensure the implementation of enhanced engagement with communities throughout the RIT-T. The key topics are:

  • Identifying credible options in a RIT-T assessment
  • Costs and market benefits in Integrated System Plan (ISP) and RIT-T assessments
  • Community engagement

We will be providing further details on the nature of this social licence consultation shortly, including stakeholder workshops and avenues for community feedback. If you would like to pre-register for the forums on social licence, or have any queries regarding the consultation, please email RITguidelinesataer [dot] gov [dot] au (RITguidelines[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).

Stakeholder forums

Matter for Review

AER Virtual Public Forum date

Valuing emissions reduction: seeking views on the method used by RIT proponents for the inclusion of emissions reduction as a class of market benefits

The AER has also published interim guidance that will provide a method of including emissions reduction as a class of market benefit before guidance is available at the conclusion of this review.

14 May 2024 (register here)

AEMC rule changes: seeking views on the implementation of three recent or open rule changes to:

  • enable the benefits of concessional finance to be shared with consumers 
  • improve the clarity, consistency and predictability of the feedback loop assessment for actionable ISP projects
  • Allow a RIT proponent to submit a contingent project application for the early works of a project before completion of a RIT-T

16 May 2024 (register here)

Invitation for submissions

Interested stakeholders are invited to send submissions in response to the questions and topics raised in this consultation paper by 5 June 2024. Submissions or enquiries about this consultation paper should be sent to RITguidelinesataer [dot] gov [dot] au (RITguidelines[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au). Alternative contact methods are available and are described in the consultation paper.