EUAA Submission: Form of Regulation Review - SWQP

EUAA Submission: Form of Regulation Review – SWQP

Emily Wood | March 27, 2024

‘… The EUAA has been a strong supporter over many years of the Gas Market reforms that followed confirmation in the first ACCC Gas report in April 20161 that all parts of the gas supply chain were exercising market power. In the area of gas pipeline reforms, we have been strong supporter of the various measures implemented through the Vertigan reforms on Part 23 and, more recently, the March 2022 package of measures agreed to by Energy Ministers to simplify the gas pipeline regulatory framework and increase transparency on pipeline tariffs.

Consumers have had to wait a long time to see the reforms being implemented and we hope that the benefits will start to follow.

Given the large number of non-scheme pipelines, we think it is appropriate for the AER to undertake a review of the regulatory status of these pipelines to see if the evidence that they may have some degree of market power can be substantiated. This submission provides some initial high-level thoughts given the hurdles we faced being:

• The short three-week timetable from issuance of the Discussion Paper to submissions being due which has prevented us from engaging with our members who use the SW Queensland pipeline

• The limited amount of information provided in the Discussion Paper on a range of issues, and

• The absence of information that APA and other parties will no doubt provide in their submissions to help us assess the claims and counterclaims being made.

Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient information that enables us to answer the key question on whether the AER should make a scheme pipeline determination for the SWQP.

We would recommend that the AER hold a public forum a couple of weeks after the publication of submissions on the Discussion Paper and then provide for another round of submissions due a month later. This should not disrupt the existing timetable to produce a Draft Decision in September 2024 – indeed we believe it would underpin a better decision. Even if the AER thinks it might delay its timetable, as this is the first of an expected series of regulation reviews, we think it is important to get the process right from the beginning …’

Please download attachment to read full submission.

Your current browser is outdated, please download the lastest version: http://outdatedbrowser.com/ru