1. Pursuant to section 172I of the Electricity Act 1992 (“Act”), I notify the amendment of the Electricity Governance Rules 2003 (“Rules”) under section 172H of the Act.
2. The empowering provisions for the Electricity Governance Regulations, in relation to which the amendments to the Rules are made, are sections 172D (1) (1) (a), 172D (1) (1) (b), 172D (1) (1) (d), 172D (1) (16) and 172D (1) (18) of the Act.
3. There has been the creation of a new Part J (Reconciliation) which has resulted in a substantial
rewrite of section VI of Part G and the associated reconciliation-related schedules (in particular Schedules
G7 and G8 of Part G) and significant, but less substantial amendments to Parts A, D, E, and H, as well as other sections of Part G. This is to ensure that the Rules reflect
the recommendations for enhancing the reconciliation system, contained in the Electricity Commission Reconciliation Project Team (ECRPT) final report. The
four key recommendations of the ECRPT report were the:
(a) elimination of incumbency;
(b) facilitation and treatment of embedded generation data processing;
(c) development of a compliance and audit regime; and
(d) grouping of grid exit points (GXPs) for reconciliation.
4. Pursuant to section 172Z (4) of the Act, the reasons for my decision to amend the Rules are to:
(a) provide a coherent reconciliation process that clearly sets out the expectations to be placed on industry participants;
(b) improve the quality of data that goes into the reconciliation process;
(c) remove ambiguity about what actions the reconciliation rules actually require;
(d) clarify the processes that retailers must follow when a consumer switches retailers (switching); and
(e) set a platform for future enhancements, should they be required.
5. These Rules come into force on 1 May 2008.
6. Copies of the Rules may be inspected free of charge or purchased from the Electricity Commission, Level Seven, ASB Bank Tower, 2 Hunter Street, Wellington.
7. The Rules can also be viewed on the Electricity Commission’s web site:
http://www.electricitycommission.govt.nz/rulesandregs/rules
Dated at Wellington this 7th day of November 2006.
DAVID PARKER, Minister of Energy.