Review of Australian Gas Networks regulatory framework - final decision - Archived
The Commission has made a Final Decision on the review of its regulatory framework for Australian Gas Networks.
The purpose of this review was to determine whether jurisdictional service reliability standards were required to ensure AGN provides gas distribution services at the quality and reliability levels valued by customers. The review also considered the effectiveness of each of the Commission’s AGN regulatory instruments, including: AGN’s Gas Distribution Licence, the Gas Metering Code, the Gas Distribution Code and the Gas Industry Guideline No. 1.
The Final Decision has three elements:
- to continue the current arrangement of not setting jurisdictional service reliability standards in the form of performance targets, on the basis that the safety requirements prescribed by the Technical Regulator continue to deliver appropriate levels of network security and reliability, and customers are satisfied with AGN’s level of service
- to continue with the current monitoring and reporting regime to provide transparency over key areas of AGN’s service and reliability (namely, responsiveness to the leaks and emergencies telephone number, responsiveness to public reports of gas leaks, and trends in unplanned interruptions), and
- to make minor amendments to each of AGN regulatory instruments to reduce duplication, enhance clarity, remove redundancy, and harmonise jurisdictional requirements with those of the national gas legislative framework. These amendments do not result in any material changes to AGN’s regulatory obligations.
The amendments to the Gas Distribution Code, Gas Metering Code and Gas Industry Guideline No. 1 will take effect from 1 July 2020. The variation to AGN’s gas distribution licence will come into effect prior to 1 July 2020.
The Commission thanks AGN, the Office of the Technical Regulator, the Energy and Water Ombudsman SA, the South Australian Federation of Residents and Rate-payers Association, and Red and Lumo Energy, for the constructive engagement and feedback provided during this review process.
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Australian Gas Networks regulatory framework review 2021-2026