The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today released our draft amendments to the Pipeline Regulatory Determinations and Elections Guide for consultation.
The proposed amendments are minor and provide clarity on how we may seek information during a form of regulation review, and timing of submissions during a form of regulation review. The amended Guide has also been updated to reflect the new National Gas Objective and recent amendments to the National Gas Law on 7 March 2024, which extend the regulatory framework to cover hydrogen and renewable gases.
Details about the proposed amendments can be found on the AER’s website.
We seek stakeholder views on our proposed amendments by 5 April 2024. Submissions can be sent electronically to PipelineFOR
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (PipelineFOR[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).
We will consider stakeholder feedback and expect to publish the revised final Guide in April 2024.
Background
The Guide was published on 12 September 2023.
It outlines the AER’s powers and functions in determining the level of regulation for gas pipelines (form of regulation determinations), the regulation of new pipelines (greenfields determinations) and the classification and reclassification of pipelines. It also sets out how we will apply the statutory tests and relevant processes.