Purpose of Consultation
The Office of Energy (the Office) seeks comment from stakeholders and interested parties on amendments to the Electricity Networks Access Code 2004 (the Access Code), being:
Access Code
The Access Code provides the framework under which access to electricity networks is provided in Western Australia. The Access Code is made under Part 8 of the Electricity Industry Act 2004 (the Act) and came into effect on 30 November 2004.
The Access Code is made by the Minister for Energy (the Minister) and is administered by the Economic Regulation Authority (the Authority).
Consultation Requirements
The Act contains provisions that govern how the Minister can amend the Access Code. The Minister is normally required to conduct a 30 day consultation process prior to any significant amendments being made (section 108). The proposed amendments are provided for consultation under this requirement. However if an amendment is considered to be of a minor nature, the Minister does not need to undertake the consultation process – (section 109(a)).
If an amendment is considered to be urgent (but not minor), the Minister can make the amendment without prior consultation, but must then conduct a consultation process as soon as practicable afterwards (section 109(2)).
After receiving submissions on the urgent amendments, the Minister must have regard to any submissions received in relation to the proposed amendments and consider whether the Access Code is to be further amended to reverse the effect of the urgent amendments or amend the Access Code in some other manner.
Objective of this Consultation
The objective of this consultation process is to consult on the urgent amendments and the proposed amendments.
The Office is conducting this consultation process on behalf of the Minister and will recommend the final form of the urgent and proposed amendments, based on submissions received and its own findings. The Minister will then decide on the final form of the amendments and approve their publication in the Government Gazette.
Concurrent Consultation
In developing the urgent amendments in 2007, it became apparent that a suite of further amendments was required to address a number of matters going forward.
Some of these matters, such as provision for a headworks charge scheme, rationalising contributions for both capital and non-capital related works and providing for technical rules for non-covered networks in the South West Interconnected System were complex and interacted with many other provisions under the Access Code. This made the drafting complex and time consuming. It was also apparent that the later drafting would need to amend some of the urgent amendments.
The Office decided that a concurrent consultation process would be undertaken, rather than consulting on the urgent amendments prior to the proposed amendments. This concurrent process would provide two advantages to stakeholders, in that they:
Consultation Documentation
This website provides a consultation paper on the urgent amendments (the Urgent Amendments Paper) that contains an overview, rationale and context for the amendments. Appendices in the paper contain copies of the actual amendments as they appeared in the Government Gazette.
Link to the Urgent Amendments Consultation Paper PDF >>
The proposed amendments are provided in an annotated version of the Access Code (the Annotated Code) also on this website. The Annotated Code shows the proposed amendments in context and provides commentary and cross referencing.
Link to Annotated Version of the Access Code PDF >>
A Background Document on the proposed amendments provids further background information and policy considerations for stakeholders’ information.
Link to Background Document PDF
Registration
Interested parties are encouraged to register their names, organisation, contact details and return email address with the Office via the email address accesscode@energy.wa.gov.au.
The Office is considering conducting a seminar at which the urgent and proposed amendments will be explained and discussed. If insufficient registration of interest for such a seminar is expressed by 31 July 2008, the seminar will not be held. If the seminar goes ahead, registered parties will be advised by email.
Submissions
Two public submissions were received in response to the consultation process:
Confidentiality
If aspects of a submission are considered confidential, those aspects should be clearly identified and the reasons for a claim of confidentiality noted in a covering letter.
A request for access to a confidential submission will be determined in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1992.
Consultation outcome
The Electricity Network Access Code Amendments (No. 2) 2008 was gazetted 22 October 2008 and can be found on State Law Publisher’s website. The amendments are provided in an annotated unofficial version of the Access Code that shows the amendments in context and provides commentary and cross referencing.
Enquiries
Enquiries regarding this consultation should be directed to:
Peter Hawken, Senior Manager Regulatory Policy (08) 9420 5600; or
Stephen Eliot, A/Director, Markets and Regulatory Policy (08) 9420 5600.
