Envestra (Victoria) has submitted a revised gas access arrangement proposal for the Victorian gas distribution system to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) for review, pursuant to Envestra (Victoria)'s obligations under the National Gas Law (NGL). The AER has publicly released this access arrangement 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 Proposals. The Proposals contain the terms, including prices, under which the Service Providers propose to provide gas retailers with access to their networks for the period 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2017. The AER assesses the terms of the Proposals 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.

On 18 May 2012 the AER hosted a workshop on the proposed terms and conditions.

The workshop provided retailers and distributors with a forum to identify and discuss key issues arising from the proposed amendments to the non-price terms and conditions of the distributors' access arrangements.

The AER sought submissions from interested parties on Envestra's access arrangement proposal. Submissions closed on 29 June 2012.

The AER conducted a preliminary examination of Envestra's access arrangement proposal and found a nominated averaging period was omitted from the proposal. In accordance with sub-rule 43(3) of the National Gas Rules (NGR), the information submitted in Envestra's access arrangement information was, in the AER's opinion, deficient in its comprehensiveness or in any other respect. The AER requested Envestra, in accordance with sub-rule 43(3)(b) of the NGR, to submit further access arrangement information as an addendum to the information already submitted.

The AER requested Envestra  to nominate an averaging period for the market data such as the risk free rate and debt risk premium.

In accordance with sub-rule 11(1)(b) of the NGR, the period taken by Envestra to correct the deficiency was disregarded for the purpose of calculating the decision making time for approving or refusing to approve Envestra's access arrangement proposal and the decision making time under rule 10 of the NGR.