Notice Type
Authorities/Other Agencies of State
Notice Title

Notice of the Electricity Industry Participation Code Amendment (Metering and Related Registry Processes) 2020

1. Under sections 38(3)(b) and 39(3)(a) of the Electricity Industry Act 2010 (“Act”), and having complied with section 39 of that Act, the Electricity Authority (“Authority”) gives notice of making the Electricity Industry Participation Code Amendment (Metering and Related Registry Processes) 2020 (“amendment”).

2. The amendment comes into force on 1 February 2021.

3. The amendment makes a number of improvements to the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 (“Code”) that the Authority had identified in the course of its operational review of metering and related registry processes. The amendment makes changes to Parts 1, 10, 11, and 15 of the Code. The changes include to:

  1. insert a new clause 10.13A to prohibit net metering in respect of ICP’s with a category one or two metering installation;
  2. amend clause 10.22 to provide more detail of the circumstances in which the costs of certification may be claimed when a consumer installation changes from one metering equipment provider (“MEP”) to another MEP;
  3. amend clause 10.25 to align the timeframes for the provision of information under that clause with those set out in clause 10.30;
  4. add new clauses 10.29B, 10.29C, 10.30B, 10.30C, 10.31C and 10.33B, and replace clauses 10.30 and 10.30A, to change the circumstances under which points of connection may be electrically disconnected, physical disconnected and electrical connected;
  5. add a new clause 10.33C and amend clause 2A of Schedule 15.2 to permit meter bridging;
  6. amend clause 10.34 and clause 19 of Schedule 10.7 to clarify the requirements relating to like-for-like replacements of components in metering installations and of metering installations;
  7. add a new clause 10.46A to set a timeframe for MEP’s to correct defects and inaccuracies in metering installations;
  8. amend the heading to clause 10.47 to better describe the content of that clause;
  9. amend Table 1 of Schedule 10.1:
    1. to include a voltage transformer in the defining characteristics of category two, three and four metering installations at sites with a voltage under 1kV;
    2. in relation to certification validity periods; and
    3. to clarify the requirements for maximum inspection periods;
  10. amend Table 3 of Schedule 10.1 to make various changes to the minimum test requirements for metering component certification and comparative recertification;
  11. amend clause 4 of Schedule 10.3 to change the requirements relating to ISO9001 certification for class B ATH (an “ATH” means a person who is approved under Schedule 10.3 to operate an approved test house);
  12. amend a number of clauses in Schedule 10.4, Schedule 10.6, Schedule 10.7, and Schedule 11.4 dealing with metering installation certification reports by MEP’s and the requirements for MEP updates to the half hour and non-half hour flags and AMI flags within the registry;
  13. amending Schedule 10.6, Schedule 10.7 and Schedule 11.4 to clarify the obligations to apply compensation factors to raw meter data for MEP’s, and a related amendment to the definition of “compensation factor”;
  14. amend clause 8 of Schedule 10.6 and clause 17 of Schedule 15.2 to clarify the obligations of participants to monitor event logs;
  15. amend subclauses 8(8) and 8(9) of Schedule 10.6, and clauses 9(1) and 20 of Schedule 10.7, to change some requirements for MEP’s back office processes in relation to half-hour metering raw meter data and to vary the situations in which the certification of half-hour metering installations is automatically cancelled;
  16. amend clause 9 of Schedule 10.7 to modify the requirements for raw meter data output tests;
  17. amend clause 12 of Schedule 10.7 to provide greater clarity around when comparative certification may be used by MEP’s to recertify a metering installation;
  18. amend clause 24 of Schedule 10.7 to clarify that compensation factors can only be applied to metering installations in specific circumstances, and that only external compensation factors are to be advised to reconciliation participants and the registry manager;
  19. amend clauses 16 and 45 of Schedule 10.7, and clause 1 of schedule 10.8, in relation to certification validity periods;
  20. amend clauses 28 and 31 of Schedule 10.7, and clauses 2 and 3 of Schedule 10.8, in relation to the certification of metering transformers in metering installations, the burden carried by metering transformers and other requirements relating to metering transformers;
  21. amend clause 32 of Schedule 10.7 to clarify when alternate certification may be used to permit an ATH to use a single certification sticker for both the metering component and the metering installation the component is part of;
  22. amend clause 41 of Schedule 10.7 to require an ATH affixing a new certification sticker to a metering installation to, as part of the same site visit, remove or obscure any invalid or expired certification stickers;
  23. amend clause 45 of Schedule 10.7 to clarify the methodological requirements for statistical sampling and to omit the now unneeded reference to interim certified metering installations;
  24. amend clauses 19, 20 and 48 of Schedule 10.7 and insert a definition of “time block meter channel” in Part 1, to permit meter bridging in exceptional circumstances, and make a consequential amendment to clause 10.12;
  25. amend clause 25 of Schedule 11.1 in relation to the notification of creation or decommissioning of an NSP;
  26. amend clause 7 of Schedule 11.4 to provide that MEP’s do not need to be recorded in the register that are used solely for the direct billing of consumers by distributors:
    (aa) amend some of the definitions in Part 1 consistent with the above changes; and
    (bb) clarify the meaning of various of the clauses referred to above.

4. Where the amendment makes a change to the Code under section 39(3)(a) of the Act, the Authority has not prepared and publicised a regulatory statement, or consulted on a regulatory statement, because it is satisfied that the relevant change is technical and non-controversial.

5. A copy of the amendment and the Code is available on the Authority’s website http://www.ea.govt.nz/code-and-compliance/the-code/.

6. A copy of the amendment and the Code may also be inspected free of charge or purchased from the Electricity Authority, Level 7, Harbour Tower, 2 Hunter Street, Wellington.

Dated at Wellington this 8th day of December 2020.

Dr NICOLA LANE CRAUFORD, Chair, Electricity Authority.