On 30 August 2011 the Ministerial Council on Energy directed the AEMC to undertake a review of distribution reliability outcomes and standards. The review will be conducted in two parts - starting with a NSW workstream, and concluding with a national workstream.

The issues paper commences the first stage of the NSW workstream and sets out the proposed scope and approach for the workstream for comment. Submissions close on 1 December 2011.

This part of the review will provide advice on the costs and benefits of alternatives for future distribution reliability outcomes in NSW. These outcomes are likely to impact the level of distribution investment and prices in NSW over the long term.

We are seeking views from the NSW community, and we will be undertaking a customer survey to inform our analysis of the costs and benefits of different levels of future reliability. This advice will be considered by the NSW Government who will decide if any changes to the NSW distribution reliability outcomes are required.