The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today commenced public consultation on the stage 1 contingent project application from Transgrid for its HumeLink project.
A contingent project application outlines the amount of revenue a business seeks to recover from its customers to deliver a project.
As part of its stage 1 application, Transgrid is seeking to recover $71.5 million in revenue to deliver proposed ‘early works’ for the HumeLink project. This includes project design, stakeholder engagement, and land-use planning.
The AER’s role is to review the reasonableness of the proposed costs within the stage 1 application to ensure consumers pay no more than necessary. The AER expects to make a decision on the application in the second half of 2022.
Transgrid will later submit a stage 2 contingent project application seeking to recover revenue for project implementation costs once the project has been committed to and a final cost estimate is available. A stage 1 application has been submitted in order to reduce project uncertainty and identifying project risks before committing to the full project.
Submissions are invited on the stage 1 contingent project application for the HumeLink project and are due by 30 May 2022.
HumeLink is a transmission upgrade connecting the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme to Bannaby, expanding transmission capacity in southern New South Wales. The project is identified as a necessary upgrade for the National Electricity Market in Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Integrated System Plan. The project has also been subject to a Regulatory Investment Test Transmission assessment, which is a cost benefit analysis.
More information about the ISP and RIT-T process is available here.