Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control and Related Matters) Amendment Regulations 2012

Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control and Related Matters) Amendment Regulations 2012

I, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, make the following regulations under the Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995 .

15 October 2012

PETER G. UNDERWOOD

Governor

By His Excellency's Command,

S. BACON

Minister for Finance

1.   Short title

These regulations may be cited as the Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control and Related Matters) Amendment Regulations 2012 .

2.   Commencement

These regulations take effect on the day on which their making is notified in the Gazette.

3.   Principal Regulations

In these regulations, the Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control and Related Matters) Regulations 2012 are referred to as the Principal Regulations.

4.    Part 2, Division 4 inserted

After regulation 22 of the Principal Regulations , the following Division is inserted in Part 2:

Division 4 - 2013 retail price determination

22A.   Interpretation

(1)  In this Division –

determination period means the period beginning on 1 July 2013 and ending on 31 December 2013;

previous determination means the declared electrical service price determination, dated 29 October 2010, made under the Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control) Regulations 2003 as then in force;

relevant declaration means the former retail declaration within the meaning of regulation 33(1) .

(2)  Regulation 33(5) does not apply to the relevant declaration for the purposes of this Division.

22B.   Certain actions not required to be taken under Division 2

Despite Division 2 , the Regulator is not required to –

(a) invite submissions in respect of whether the relevant declaration should be retained or revoked; or

(b) determine whether to revoke or retain the relevant declaration; or

(c) conduct a declared electrical service pricing investigation under that Division into the pricing policies, in relation to the provision of the declared electrical service to which the relevant declaration relates, of the electricity provider providing the declared electrical service; or

(d) make, in relation to the declared electrical service to which the relevant declaration relates, a declared electrical service price determination under that Division in relation to the determination period.

22C.   2013 price determination to be made under this regulation

(1)  The Regulator is to make under this regulation, before 30 March 2013, a determination (the 2013 Determination) that –

(a) regulates the prices that may be charged by; and

(b) specifies the price control mechanisms imposed on –

an electricity provider, during the determination period, in respect of the declared electrical service to which the relevant declaration relates.

(2)  Aurora Retail may not fix or amend tariffs or charges under section 40 of the Act unless the tariffs or charges as so fixed or amended are calculated in accordance with the 2013 Determination.

(3)  The 2013 Determination is to consist of the provisions, of Parts 2 and 3 of the previous determination, modified in accordance with subregulations (4) and (5) and for that purpose a reference in either of those subregulations to a provision of the previous determination is to be taken to be a reference to that provision as the provision is to appear in the 2013 Determination.

(4)  For the purposes of subregulation (3) , the provisions of the previous determination are to be modified by omitting all references to "Part 2" and "Part 3".

(5)  For the purposes of subregulation (3) , the modifications to the provisions of the previous determination are as follows:

(a) in clause 1, for "1 July 2010" there is to be substituted "1 July 2013";

(b) in clause 2(a), for " Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control) Regulations 2003 " there is to be substituted " Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control and Related Matters) Regulations 2012 ";

(c) in clause 2(b), the definitions of Investigation, non-contestable tariff customers, Price Control Regulations, period 1, period 2, period 3, Tariff Customers Regulations, tax event, 2007 Determination and 2010 Determination are to be omitted;

(d) in clause 2 the following definitions are to be inserted in their appropriate alphabetical order in the clause:

GWh means gigawatt hours;

relevant period means the period beginning on 1 July 2013 and ending on 31 December 2013;

small customers has the same meaning as it has in the Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995 ;

statement of reasons means the document, published in June 2012 by the Regulator, entitled "Statement of Reasons Approval of: Retail tariffs for non-contestable tariff customers from 1 July 2012 in accordance with the 2010 Price Determination";

2010 Determination means the declared electrical service price determination, dated 29 October 2010, made under the Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control) Regulations 2003 as in force when the determination was made;

(e) for clause 3 there is to be substituted a clause specifying the prescribed inflationary factor, as determined by the Regulator;

(f) for clause 4 there are to be substituted the following clauses:

3A.   For the purposes of this Determination, a reference, in a provision (other than in the definition of CFy- in clause 7), to a methodology or other matter approved by the Regulator is to be taken to be a reference to the methodology or other matter that was approved by the Regulator under the 2010 Determination and that applied in respect of period 3 under the corresponding provision in the 2010 Determination.

4.   The maximum tariffs and charges that may be charged by Aurora (other than under a market retail contract or in relation to a service specified in Schedule 3) in respect of small customers, including in relation to a contract of a type specified in Schedule 1, are to be calculated in accordance with clause 6.

(g) in clause 5, for "Tariff Customers Regulations" there is to be substituted " Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995 ";

(h) in clause 6(a), for all the words after "as detailed in" there is to be substituted "Schedule 2";

(i) for clause 6(b) there is to be substituted the following clause:

(b) Tariffs and charges that may be charged by Aurora (other than under a market retail contract or in relation to a service specified in Schedule 3) in respect of small customers, including in relation to a contract of a type specified in Schedule 1, are to be determined in accordance with the principle that, if the amount for each of the tariffs and charges were to be applied to each component of the notional tariff base, the result so obtained would not exceed the notional maximum revenue calculated in accordance with clause 7.

(j) in clause 7, for "period 1, period 2 and period 3" there is to be substituted "the relevant period";

(k) in clause 7, in the formula, "+K_y" and "+S_y" are to be omitted;

(l) in clause 7, for the definition of R_y and Table 1 beneath that definition there is to be substituted the following definition:

R_y = [forecast small customers load_y* TLF_y * DLF_y] * [energy price_y] + [cost to serve_y *forecast number of small customers_y]

where the forecast small customers load (in GWh), for the relevant period, and the forecast number of small customers, for the relevant period, are determined in accordance with a methodology approved by the Regulator;

(m) in clause 7, for the definition of Cost to Serve and Table 1 beneath that definition there is to be substituted the following definition:

cost to serve means the amount estimated to be the cost to serve each small customer, being the number obtained by –

(a) taking the amount of $94; and

(b) halving the amount referred to in paragraph (a) ; and

(c) escalating, by the appropriate prescribed inflationary factor, the amount obtained under paragraph (b) ;

(n) in clause 7, for the definition of Energy price and Table 2 beneath that definition there is to be substituted the following definition:

energy price means the price for energy, being the amount obtained by –

(a) taking the amount specified, in the column headed "$/MWh (2012-13$)" in Table 2.3 of the statement of reasons, opposite "Including carbon and after amendment to the Price Control Regulations" in that table; and

(b) converting the amount referred to in paragraph (a), which is a cost per MWh, into the corresponding cost per kWh; and

(c) escalating the amount referred to in paragraph (b) in respect of kWh by the prescribed inflationary factor;

(o) in clause 7, the definition of EA_y is to be omitted;

(p) in clause 7, for the definition of AEMO_y and Table 3 beneath that definition there is to be substituted the following definition:

AEMO_y means the amount of the charges that it is forecast will be billed by the Australian Energy Market Operator for market participation and ancillary services, which amount is obtained by –

(a) taking the amount specified, in the column headed "2012-13 Tariff Proposal ($m)" in Table 2.2 of the statement of reasons, opposite "AEMO (forecast AEMO market and ancillary services charges)" in item 3 of that table; and

(b) halving the amount referred to in paragraph (a); and

(c) escalating, by the appropriate prescribed inflationary factor, the amount obtained under paragraph (b);

(q) in clause 7, for the definition of M_y and Table 4 beneath that definition there is to be substituted the following definition:

M_y means the amount in relation to retail meter costs (being an amount that does not include any costs, incurred by Aurora in relation to such meters, that are attributable to preparing for full retail competition for the retailing of electricity), which amount is obtained by –

(a) taking the amount specified, in the column headed "2012-13 Tariff Proposal ($m)" in Table 2.2 of the statement of reasons, opposite "M (retail meter costs)" in item 4 of that table; and

(b) halving the amount referred to in paragraph (a); and

(c) escalating, by the appropriate prescribed inflationary factor, the amount obtained under paragraph (b);

(r) in clause 7, for the definition of REC_y and Table 5 beneath that definition there is to be substituted the following definition:

REC_y means the amount in relation to renewable energy certificate costs, which amount is obtained by –

(a) taking the amount specified, in the column headed "2012-13 Tariff Proposal ($m)" in Table 2.2 of the statement of reasons, opposite "REC (renewable energy certificate costs)" in item 5 of that table; and

(b) halving the amount referred to in paragraph (a); and

(c) escalating, by the appropriate prescribed inflationary factor, the amount obtained under paragraph (b);

(s) in clause 7, in the definition of Tax _y, the words after "approved by the Regulator" are to be omitted;

(t) in clause 7, the definition of K_y-p is to be omitted;

(u) in clause 7, for the definition of CF_y- there is to be substituted the following definition:

CF_y- means adjustments, arising from administration of the 2010 Determination, as approved by the Regulator;

(v) in clause 7, the definition of S_y and Table 6 beneath that definition are to be omitted;

(w) for Schedule 1 there is to be substituted the following Schedule:

SCHEDULE 1 - Schedule of Contract Types

Current Tariff Number	Category	Description
31	Residential	Light and power
41	Residential	Hot Water
61	Residential	Off Peak afternoon boost
62	Residential	Off Peak night only
42	Residential	HydroHeat (hot water and space heating)
22	Business	General
34	Business	Nursing Home light and power
43	Business	Institutional hot water
73	Business	Irrigation low rate
74	Business	Irrigation high rate
75	Business	Irrigation (Time-of-Use)
82	Business	Monthly kVA demand low voltage
83	Business	Industrial low voltage demand
85	Business	Monthly kVA demand high voltage
86	Business	Industrial high voltage demand

(x) for Schedules 2(a), 2(b), 2(c) and 2(d) there is to be substituted a schedule, labelled Schedule 2, containing the notional tariff base, determined by the Regulator, consisting of the following numbers and amounts determined by the Regulator:

(i) the numbers of small customers to whom electricity is likely to be supplied, other than under market retail contracts, during the relevant period;

(ii) the amounts of electricity that are likely to be so supplied;

(y) in clause 8 for all the words after "Schedule 3 are" there is to be substituted "for the relevant period equal to the price, in column 2 in Schedule 3, escalated by the prescribed inflationary factor";

(z) in clause 9 for "Tariff Customers Regulations" there is to be substituted " Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995 ";

(za) in clause 11 for "30 June 2013" there is to be substituted "31 December 2013".

(6)  Regulations 18 , 19 , 20 and 21 and Division 3 apply in relation to a determination made under this regulation as if the determination were a declared electrical service price determination made under regulation 15 .

Displayed and numbered in accordance with the Rules Publication Act 1953.

Notified in the Gazette on 24 October 2012

These regulations are administered in the Department of Treasury and Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the regulation)

These regulations amend the Electricity Supply Industry (Price Control and Related Matters) Regulations 2012 to allow the making of a determination in respect of the maximum amounts chargeable, between 1 July 2013 and 31 December 2013, in respect of the retailing of electricity to tariff customers on mainland Tasmania, without holding a prior investigation or otherwise complying with Part 2 of those regulations, and specifying the provisions that such a determination is to contain.