On 25 November 2010, the Commission gave notice under sections 102 and 103 of the National Electricity Law (NEL) of the making of the final Rule determination and Final Rule with respect to the Provision of Metering Data Services and Clarification of Existing Metrology Requirements Rule Change Request.

In brief, the Final Rule introduces (among other things) the following arrangements:

• Metering Data Providers will become a new category of service provider regulated under the National Electricity Rules (Rules);
• The Responsible Person, in general, will be responsible for the provision of the metering installation and the provision of metering data services. The Responsible Person will thus have end-to-end responsibility. The exception to this arrangement will be where a Transmission Network Service Provider (TNSP) is the Responsible person, in which case, AEMO will be responsible for the provision of metering data services;
• For complex connection points, AEMO will be required to identify connection points possessing ‘special site or technology related conditions' and the relevant responsible party is to ensure that it accommodates these conditions; and
• The structure of, and the terms used in, Chapter 7 of the Rules have been modified to enhance the clarity and effectiveness of the Rules.

The Final Rule principally differs from the Draft Rule because the Final Rule makes the Responsible Person or AEMO responsible for the provision of metering data services. The Final Rule also provides detailed arrangements for the metrology of complex connection points.

All provisions of Schedules 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the Final Rule commence on 16 December 2010. All provisions of Schedule 4 of the Final Rule commence on 20 January 2011.

Background

On 18 June 2009, AEMO (formerly NEMMCO) submitted a Rule Change Request that principally sought to transfer the current arrangements governing certain metering data service providers from a deeds-based framework to a framework contained in Chapter 7 of the National Electricity Rules (Rules).

This Rule Change Request proposed to:

• create a new category of person in the Rules called a Metering Data Provider; and
• transfer the responsibility for collecting metering data from AEMO to the Responsible Person for metering installation types 1,2, 3 and 4.

The Rule Change Request also sought to make certain other amendments to Chapter 7 of the Rules. In brief, the proposed changes would:

• apply the existing dispute resolution process in clause 8.2 of the Rules to disputes between Metering Data Providers and other parties, including Registered Participants;
• clarify AEMO's power to establish service level procedures for Metering Data Providers and specify the scope and purpose of the procedures AEMO can make; 
• vary, delete or introduce definitions to clarify the roles and obligations of service providers, improve the clarity of and reduce duplication within the Rules, and standardise terminology across all metering installation types; 
• restructure Chapter 7 to ensure each clause deals only with one substantive matter, correct errors and improve clarity, and take into account of the substantive changes proposed in AEMO's Rule Change Request; and 
• make consequential amendments to Chapters 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 of the Rules.

On 27 August 2009, the Commission gave notice under section 95 of the NEL to commence consultation on this Rule Change Request. On 16 October 2009, submissions on first round consultation closed. On 10 December 2009, the Commission published a notice under section 107 of NEL to extend the publication date of the draft Rule determination to 1 April 2010. The Commission considered that this extension of time was necessary because the Rule Change Request raised issues of sufficient complexity.

On 1 April 2010, the Commission published a second notice under section 107 of the NEL to further extend the publication date of the draft Rule determination to 22 April 2010. The Commission considered that this extension of time was necessary because the Rule Change Request raised issues of sufficient complexity.

On 15 April 2010, the Commission published a third notice under section 107 of the NEL to further extend the publication date of the draft Rule determination to 6 May 2010. The Commission considered that this extension of time was necessary due to a material change in circumstances that affected this Rule Change Request.

On 6 May 2010, the Commission gave notice under section 99 of the NEL for the publication of the draft Rule determination and draft Rule. The Commission invited submissions to the draft Rule determination by 1 July 2010.

On 5 August 2010, the Commission gave notice under section 107 of the NEL to extend the publication date of the final Rule determination to 25 November 2010. The Commission considered that this extension of time was necessary because submissions to this Rule Change Request raised issues of sufficient complexity.

Specifically, the following issues, which were raised in submissions, require detailed consideration:

• The responsibility framework for metering data services
• The responsibility framework for complex connection points
• The responsibility framework for child metering points in embedded networks
• The relationship between Service Level Procedures and the Metrology Procedure

In addition to the above key issues, there were over 150 technical drafting issues raised in submissions that attempted to clarify aspects of Chapter 7 and Chapter 10 of the Rules.

On 9 September 2010, in accordance with section 108A of the NEL, the Commission published a report giving reasons as to why the final Rule determination had not been made within 12 months after the publication of the notice under section 95 of the NEL. The Commission expected that the final Rule determination would be published on 25 November 2010.

On 16 September 2010 the Commission published a Consultation Paper on Specific Issues. In preparation for the final Rule determination, the Consultation Paper provided the Commission's position on the following issues:

• The responsibility for metering data services; and
• The arrangements for complex connection points.

An accompanying draft Rule, which articulated the Commission's policy position, was provided.

Submissions to the Consultation Paper on Specific Issues were due on 30 September 2010 and nine submissions were received.