The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) places stakeholder engagement at the centre of our work. We recognise that the decisions we make and the actions we take in performing our regulatory roles and other activities affect a wide range of individuals, businesses and organisations. Our vision is for our stakeholders to have the opportunity to engage with us across a range of our functions.
Recently, the method for estimating expected inflation in our regulatory determinations has been the subject of debate. Expected inflation is an important parameter for modelling future revenues in both electricity and gas regulatory determinations.
Our method for estimating expected inflation is set out in the Post-Tax Revenue Model. The National Electricity Rules require us to use the method that is set out on the current version of the model. To fully consider inflation-related issues that have been raised with us, we have instituted an industry-wide consultation and review.
The first step of this consultation and review is to seek written submissions on our discussion paper on the regulatory treatment of inflation. The discussion paper explores the treatment of inflation in our determination of revenue and prices for electricity and gas network services.
Invitation for submissions
Interested parties are invited to make submissions on the discussion paper by the close of business on Thursday 29 June 2017. Submissions should be emailed to RateOfReturn
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (RateOfReturn[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) or alternatively submissions can be posted to:
Canberra ACT 2601
The AER prefers that all submissions be sent in an electronic format (Microsoft Word) and are publicly available, to facilitate an informed, transparent and robust consultation process. Accordingly, submissions will be treated as public documents and posted on the AER's website, unless prior arrangements are made with the AER to treat the submission, or portions of it, as confidential. Those wishing to submit confidential information are requested to:
- clearly identify the information that is the subject of the confidentiality claim; and
- provide a non-confidential version of the submission
Register your interest to provide further feedback
While we invite stakeholders to submit written submissions on the discussion paper, we also invite those interested in engaging with us more closely via workshops and forums to register their interest by emailing RateOfReturnaer [dot] gov [dot] au (RateOfReturn[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) before close of business on 28 April 2017.
We aim to host our first stakeholder workshop in May 2017.