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)(3), 172D(1)(4) and 172D(1)(5) of the Act.
3. A brief description of the nature of the amendments is as follows:
(a) Amendment of Technical Code A of Schedule C3 of Part C to require asset owners to meet duplicate protection requirements at future grid interface voltages at or above 220 kV a.c.;
(b) addition of a new appendix in Technical Code A to clarify the technical requirements for duplicate protection;
(c) addition of specific provisions in that new appendix for the treatment of existing assets which are
non-compliant;
(d) addition of new definitions of the terms, “back up protection system”, “circuit breaker failure protection system” and “main protection system” in Part A of the Rules (as used in the amendments); and
(e) a minor typographical change to the defined term, “circuit breaker”, to remove the hyphen between the words “circuit” and “breaker” wherever it is used in the Rules.
4. Pursuant to section 172Z(4) of the Act, the reasons for my decision to amend the Rules are to:
(a) clarify the existing obligations in Technical Code
A of Schedule C3 of Part C relating to duplicate protection; and
(b) extend the existing duplicate protection obligations to future grid interface voltages above 220 kV a.c.
5. These rules come into force on 31 May 2007.
6. Copies of the Rules may be inspected free of charge
or purchased from the Electricity Commission, Level 7, ASB Bank Tower, 2 Hunter Street, Wellington.
The Rules can also be viewed on the Electricity Commission’s website
http://www.electricitycommission.govt.nz/rulesandregs/rules
Dated at Wellington this 5th day of April 2007.
DAVID PARKER, Minister of Energy.