The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) is required under the National Electricity Rules (the Rules) to develop and issue guidelines relating to the confidentiality of information obtained, used and disclosed for the purposes of resolving a dispute under the dispute resolution process established by chapter 8 of the Rules.
To assist the AER in developing confidentiality guidelines, interested parties are invited to comment on the consultation draft. Submissions should indicate whether the proponent considers that a meeting is necessary or desirable in connection with the development of the confidentiality guidelines and, if so, the reasons why a meeting is necessary or desirable. If, on the basis of submissions, the AER concludes that it is necessary or desirable to hold any meetings, they will be convened before the AER publishes draft guidelines as required by clause 8.9(f) of the Rules.
Submissions can be sent electronically to: aerinquiry
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (aerinquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au). Alternatively, written submissions or submissions on disk, in Word 7.0 compatible format, can be sent to:
Mr Sebastian Roberts
General Manager
AER - Transition Branch
GPO Box 520
MELBOURNE VIC 3001
The AER prefers that all submissions be publicly available, to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process. The AER is required by clause 8.9(g) of the Rules to make available to all consulted persons, on request, copies of any material submitted. Submissions received will be made available on the AER's website. Therefore submissions must identify any confidential material.
A copy of the consultation draft is available from the AER's web site.
The closing date for submissions is Thursday 6 April 2006.