The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) is seeking feedback on our draft guideline about cost recovery under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap (Roadmap).
Under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act 2020 (EII Act) we are required to make annual contribution determinations to confirm the costs of implementing the Roadmap. The Roadmap’s independent Scheme Financial Vehicle will recover these costs from the NSW distribution network service providers who are then required to pass the costs through to NSW electricity consumers on their retail bills.
The contribution determination process will allow the Roadmap’s Scheme Financial Vehicle to have sufficient funds to meet its liabilities, for example to cover the costs of underwriting new renewable generation or storage investment, network investment and the administration costs of Roadmap entities.
To give effect to our regulatory functions under the EII Act, our draft guideline sets out our process and method for how we intend to make a contribution determination. Our method will be operationalised through an Excel-based template called the contribution determination template.
Our draft guideline implements the EII Act and Regulations developed by the OECC. The OECC published its policy intent on exemptions from Roadmap costs for emissions-intensive trade-exposed entities and green hydrogen producers and its proposed process for administering exemptions. This document should be read in conjunction with our draft guideline.
Invitation for submissions
The AER invites interested stakeholders to make a submission on the draft guideline by the close of business on 4 August 2023.
Feedback will be used to inform the final guideline which is to be published in August 2023.
If providing a written submission, we prefer it be publicly available to facilitate informed and transparent consultation. We will treat written submissions as public documents unless otherwise requested.
Background
We were appointed as a regulator under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act 2020 (EII Act) in November 2021.
The AER exists to ensure energy consumers are better off, now and in the future. We are the economic regulator for electricity and gas networks in every state and territory in Australia except Western Australia. We regulate electricity networks under the National Electricity Law and National Electricity Rules. We also regulate natural gas pipelines under the National Gas Law and the National Gas Rules.
In the National Electricity Rules context, the Roadmap’s contribution determination is a jurisdictional scheme, and meets the eligibility criteria in the NER as assessed by the AER.