On 20 May 2010 the Commission gave notice under section 311 of the National Gas Law (NGL) of the making of the final Rule determination for the Prioritisation of Tied Controlled Withdrawal Bids Rule change request. The Commission also gave notice under section 313 of the NGL of the making of a Rule. The Rule made by the Commission changed the scheduling of equally-beneficial controllable withdrawal bids in the Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market as proposed in the Rule change request. The Rule commenced at 6:00am on 7 June 2010.

On 16 November 2009, AEMO submitted a Rule change request seeking to amend the National Gas Rules.  This was the first Rule change request received by the AEMC seeking to amend the National Gas Rules.

The Rule change request sought to change the tie-breaking rules AEMO used to schedule gas withdrawals in the Victorian wholesale gas market under rule 214 of the National Gas Rules.  Previously, multiple controllable withdrawal bids considered to be "equally beneficial" to the market were scheduled on a pro-rated basis.  The proposal was to change that situation so that, where multiple controllable withdrawal bids were considered to be "equally beneficial" to the market, controllable withdrawal bids would be prioritised over other bids if the bidder held Authorised Maximum Daily Quantity units or Authorised Maximum Daily Quantity credits.

AEMO also requested that the AEMC have regard to its discretion to dispense with certain steps in the rule change process under transitional provisions (clause 62 of Schedule 3) of the NGL.  In particular, AEMO requested that the AEMC dispense with the step of the first round of public consultation in the rule-making process under the NGL and the discretion under s.307 of the NGL for the AEMC to hold a public hearing before it makes a draft rule determination.

On 23 December 2009, the AEMC published a notice under section 303 and clause 62(3) of Schedule 3 of the NGL notifying the public of the commencement of the Rule change process for the Rule change request and the AEMC's decision to dispense with the first round of consultation on the proposal.  The AEMC also published a staff Information Paper to inform stakeholders of issues raised in the AEMC's initial analysis of the Rule change request.

On 25 February 2010, the Commission gave notice under section 308 of the NGL of the making of the draft Rule determination for this Rule change request.  The Commission decided not to make a draft Rule in relation to the Rule change request as it was not satisfied that the proposed Rule would or would be likely to contribute to the achievement of the National Gas Objective.

Submissions on the draft Rule determination closed on 8 April 2010. Seven submissions were made on the draft Rule determination.

Following the Commission's consideration of submissions and further analysis, on 20 May 2010 the Commission gave notice under section 311 of the NGL of the making of the final Rule determination for the Rule change request. The Commission also gave notice under section 313 of the NGL of the making of a Rule. The Commission decided to make a Rule in relation to the Rule change request as it was satisfied that the Rule would or would be likely to contribute to the achievement of the National Gas Objective.

The Rule commenced at 6:00am on 7 June 2010.