Victorian gas access arrangement proposals received

APA GasNet Australia (Operations) Pty Ltd (GasNet) has submitted a revised gas access arrangement proposal (Proposal) for its Victorian gas network to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) for review, pursuant to its obligations under the National Gas Law (NGL).

The AER has publicly released the Proposal for consideration and comment by interested parties.

Under the NGL and National Gas Rules the AER has the function of reviewing and approving the terms of the Proposal. The Proposal contains the terms, including prices, under which GasNet proposes to provide gas retailers with access to its network for the period 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2017. The AER assesses the terms of the Proposal against the National Gas Objective which is set out in the NGL. Following the review the AER must make a final decision to approve, or to refuse to approve a Proposal.

Submissions

The AER is seeking submissions on the Proposals for consideration in making its draft decisions on the Proposals.

Submissions should be sent electronically to VicGAARaccc [dot] gov [dot] au (VicGAAR[at]accc[dot]gov[dot]au)by 5pm AEST on Monday, 18 June 2012.

Interested parties are referred to the AER’s Access Arrangement Guideline for further details on how to make submissions to the AER can be found on the website.

The AER may, but need not, consider a submission it receives after the consultation period has ended.

Timeline

The AER has developed a timeline that allows for a comprehensive review of each Proposal and associated submissions. Following a review of submissions received the AER’s draft decision will be released in September 2012. The AER’s final decision is to be released in March 2013.

These timeframes are designed to provide the AER with opportunities to extensively engage with Service Providers and other stakeholders prior to the release of the AER’s final decision.

Further inquiries

If you wish to be kept informed about this process through AER email notifications please register your interest by emailing AERInquiryaer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERInquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).

For any other inquiries about the Proposal review, please contact the AER on (02) 6243 1233. Alternatively, inquiries can be sent electronically to VicGAARaccc [dot] gov [dot] au (VicGAAR[at]accc[dot]gov[dot]au).