Broadening the Gas Specification

Domestic gas consumers will benefit from greater supply and competition as a result of legislation passed in State Parliament on 17 November 2009.

The Gas Supply (Gas Quality Specifications) Act 2009 will enable producers to supply leaner quality gas to transmission pipelines in Western Australia. The change aims to encourage development of gas fields that sit outside current pipeline delivery specifications.

Broader quality gas can result in reduced capacity and increased operating and maintenance costs for pipeline operators, gas storage facility operators and large gas consumers. The legislation will require producers of broad-quality gas to compensate operators and consumers for these losses in circumstances as outlined in the Act.
The Gas Supply (Gas Quality Specifications Act) 2009 can be downloaded from the State Law Publishers website.

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Act explains the intended meaning of each clause as well as Government policies that the Act is implementing. Please note that there were some minor amendments to the Bill introduced into Parliament.

Current Status

The first phase of supporting regulations under the Act, the Gas Supply (Gas Quality Specifications) Regulations 2010 (the Regulations), were published in the Government Gazette on 26 March 2010. The Regulations are available from the State Law Publisher’s website. The Office of Energy is developing the regulations under the Act in two broad phases:

• The first phase includes the regulations necessary for the owners of the Macedon gas field to choose whether to develop the field by supplying broad quality gas rather than treating the gas to comply with the specification applicable on 1 January 2009.
• A second phase will include the balance of regulations required for the scheme to operate. The second phase of regulations will be developed this year and is expected to be promulgated by mid 2011.

Although aspects of the scheme have commenced, the Regulations ensure that broad specification gas will not be able to flow through the WA natural gas transmission network before 1 July 2012. This allows time for the remainder of the regulations to be established in order for the scheme to be fully operational, and for industry to adjust to these laws.

PIA pipelines

The following pipelines have been declared to be “PIA pipelines” under section 5 of the Act. PIA pipelines are compensated under a Pipeline Impact Agreement (PIA) for the impacts of broader quality gas before the gas flows. All other pipelines are compensated under the compensation scheme in Part 4 of the Act, after the impact of the broad quality gas. All PIA pipeline declarations are published in the Government Gazette. Copies of the Government Gazette are available from the State Law Publisher’s website.

Appliance Rectification Program

Part 5 of the Act provides for an Appliance Rectification Program to give appliance owners the opportunity to have certain pre-1980 gas appliances replaced or serviced as necessary. The appliances affected are those which may have safety issues if operated on lower energy content gas.This program is a function of the Director of Energy Safety and is administered by EnergySafety.

If you think your gas appliance was manufactured before 1980, it is important you call the Appliance Rectification call centre on 1800 110 464, or go to Gas Appliance Program and complete the online form to arrange for your appliances to be checked by a licensed gas fitter.

Further Information