The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has today released a draft Retailer Authorisation Guideline. The guideline is required under section 117 of the National Energy Retail Law (Retail Law).
Under the Retail Law, the AER will be responsible for issuing and revoking retailer authorisations. To support this role, the AER is required to develop a guideline to assist applicants to understand the process for obtaining energy retailer authorisations, and for the transfer, surrender or revocation of retailer authorisations.
The AER commenced consultation on the Retailer Authorisation Guideline with the release of an issues paper in March 2010 and a consultation paper in November 2010. These papers and written submissions received in response to them are available at the AER's websit.
The AER has used the earlier consultations to develop the draft guideline released with this notice. This notice and the draft guideline have been published on the AER’s website in accordance with the retail consultation procedure set out in clause 173 of the National Energy Retail Rules.
This will be the last round of consultation prior to the release of the final document. The finalised document is expected to be released later this year.
How to make submissions
The AER invites comments on the draft guideline by 31 May 2011. This consultation will inform the AER’s approach to retailer authorisations under the National Energy Retail Law and Rules and the development of the final guideline.
Submissions should be sent electronically to: AERInquiry
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERInquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) with the title “Draft AER Retailer authorisation guideline – attn. Ed Mayne”.