On 9 May 2008 EnergyAustralia lodged an application with the AER, requesting approval to amend its current electricity transmission revenue determination to allow for the correct recovery of costs attributable to replacing feeder cables 908 and 909. EnergyAustralia's application is attached and is available on the AER's website.
The application is being considered under EnergyAustralia's 2004-09 transmission network revenue cap which was set by the ACCC in May 2005. In setting EnergyAustralia's revenue cap, the need to replace the cables during this regulatory period was established but there was uncertainty surrounding the costs of the project. As the ACCC considered that the project would need to be undertaken during the current regulatory period, the ACCC included $37 million as an 'indicative capex allowance'. However, due to capex being deferred into the next regulatory control period (2009-14) the revenue cap for 2004-09 will need to be reduced.
Based on pre-lodgement consultation and an initial assessment of the application, the AER's preliminary position is to approve EnergyAustralia's contingent project application which will lead to a net revenue decrease for 2008-09 of $4.4m. The AER's decision regarding this project will also be considered when it makes its 2009 distribution determination for the purposes of recovery of expenditure which EnergyAustralia incurs during that regulatory control period.
Interested parties are invited to make submissions on the AER's preliminary position and EnergyAustralia's application. Submissions can be sent electronically to AERInquiry
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (AERInquiry[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au), or alternatively mailed to:
Mike Buckley
General Manager
Network Regulation North Branch
Australia Energy Regulator
GPO Box 3131
Canberra ACT 2601
The closing date for submissions is 27 May 2008.
Unless confidentiality is requested submissions will be publicly available on the AER's website. If you wish to include information that is confidential it should be clearly marked as such. A statement providing reasons for the confidentiality claim should also be submitted.