On 9 April 2015, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) made a final rule that aligns the timing of TasNetworks’ transmission and distribution revenue determinations on 1 July 2019.

The final rule will lead to more efficient investment and operational decisions by allowing both the transmission and distribution networks to be considered together when TasNetworks plans its network and when the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) makes the associated revenue determinations. It will also result in an ongoing reduction in administrative costs for TasNetworks and other stakeholders involved in TasNetworks’ transmission and distribution revenue determination processes.

The final rule is substantially the same as the proposed rule except for some drafting amendments. It commenced on 9 April 2015. There was an error in the statutory notice published on 9 April 2015 which referred to a commencement date of 1 July 2015.  This error was corrected in a notice published on 16 April 2015.

Background

On 22 October 2014, TasNetworks submitted a request to the AEMC seeking to align the timing of AER revenue determinations for its distribution and transmission networks. It proposed to achieve this through a change to the National Electricity Rules that would set the length of the next regulatory control period for its distribution network in 2017 to two years. This would align the revenue determination processes and regulatory control periods of the two network businesses on 1 July 2019.

On 26 February 2014, the AEMC commenced consultation on the rule change request. It set out to assess the rule change request as a non-controversial rule under an expedited rule making process, subject to the receipt of any written objections from stakeholders by 12 March 2015. No written objections were received.

The AEMC received two submissions on the rule change request as part of consultation.