On 1 July 2005, the AER assumed NECA’s responsibility for authorising changes to the software used by NEMMCO to operate the wholesale electricity market.
Clause 3.17.1 of the rules provides that NEMMCO must not alter, reconfigure, reprogram or otherwise modify or enhance any computer software required under chapter 3 for the operation of the market unless such changes have been duly authorised by the AER.
Following consultation in 1999, NECA decided that it would not give specific authorisation to individual software changes. It instead, relied on a general authorisation for changes that would alter calculation methodologies or affect the content, format or timing of data made available to the market, subject to certain specific conditions. The conditions were designed to ensure that all market participants are consulted on those software changes. They also ensured that, where six or more participants object to a proposed change, that change must be subject to a specific consultation and authorisation process by NECA. This procedure was intended to facilitate timely implementation of essential and agreed software changes whilst ensuring an effective right of appeal to NECA by aggrieved market participants.
The full text of NECA’s letter to NEMMCO of 26 July 1999, which spells out the detailed conditions for authorisation of software changes, is available below.
