On 22 May 2014, the AEMC made the National Electricity Amendment (Minor Changes) Rule 2014 and the National Gas Amendment (Minor Changes) Rule 2014. These Rules were initiated by the AEMC to correct minor errors and make non-material changes to the National Electricity Rules (NER) and the National Gas Rules (NGR).

Schedule 1 of National Electricity Amendment (Minor Changes) Rule 2014 will commence operation on 1 July 2014, and Schedule 2 will commence operation on 1 October 2014. The National Gas Amendment (Minor Changes) Rule 2014 will commence operation on 1 July 2014.

The Commission considers that the final Rules will improve the quality of the NER and NGR in terms of accuracy and consistency. The Commission considers that the final Rules are likely to contribute to the achievement of the NEO and NGO (as applicable), although the efficiency benefits that will result from the final Rules are considered to be very small given the minor or non-material nature of the changes proposed.

The final Rules support effective and transparent regulation and operation of the NEM and the natural gas markets, by clarifying the operation of the Rules in the following ways:

• removing expired provisions from the Rules;
• inserting notes relating to civil penalty and conduct provisions in the NGR;
• omitting Chapter 10 definitions that are not used in the NER;
• correcting several minor errors, including formatting, typographical and cross referencing anomalies in the Rules; and
• inserting notes to assist readers of the Rules to find information on the current values of the market price cap and cumulative price threshold.

Background

On 10 April 2014, the Commission gave notice under sections 95 and 96(1)(a) of the National Electricity Law and sections 303 and 304(1)(a) of the National Gas Law of its intention to initiate the proposed National Electricity Amendment (Minor Changes) Rule 2014 and National Gas Amendment (Minor Changes) Rule 2014 under the expedited Rule making process.

No objections to the expedited rule making process were received. One submission was received.