Under the National Electricity Rules (NER), any party that engages in an electricity transmission or distribution activity must either be registered with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) as a network service provider (NSP), or be exempted by the AER from this requirement.
To assist applicants who may seek an exemption, the NER provides that the AER can issue a guideline setting out the requirements to gain an exemption. The AER initially adopted guidelines for NSP exemptions from the National Electricity Code Administrator (NECA) in the transfer of functions when the AER formed in 2005.
On 16 December 2011, the AER revoked the former guidelines and replaced it with a new Electricity NSP Registration Exemption Guideline. The new Guideline came into effect on 1 January 2012. Over the first six months, the AER's compliance approach will focus on monitoring, and educating participants on their obligations under the Guideline. To register or apply for a network exemption under the new Guideline, applicants must complete an Exemption Registration and Application form.
AER’s consultation in revising the NSP exemption guideline
In June 2011, the AER commenced consultation on revising the electricity NSP registration exemption guideline (network Guideline) and released a revised guideline and accompanying consultation paper.
The proposed revisions to the network Guideline reflected changes in the regulatory landscape and alignment with the classes of exemption contained in the AER Exempt Selling Guideline. The network Guideline is intended to provide affected parties with greater clarification and certainty in the requirements for exemption, for example by outlining the situations where an exemption is deemed, where an exemption must be registered and where an application for an individual exemption is required.
The AER’s exempt selling guideline outlines classes of onselling activities which will be exempt from the requirement to hold a retailer authorisation under the National Energy Retail Law. The AER has consulted on its approach to retail exemptions, see the AER’s website. The exempt selling guideline raises several issues which are also applicable to the network Guideline.
In July 2011, the AER held a public forum to discuss the network guideline and the exempt selling guideline together and submissions were sought from interested parties.
In October 2011, the AER initiated a second round of consultation, publishing a draft Decision and revised draft network Guideline. The draft Decision addressed issues raised in submissions to the June consultation paper and, where relevant, consequential amendments to the network Guideline.
In December 2011, the AER published the final network Guideline and revoked all previous NSP exemption guidelines. The new Guideline will come into effect on 1 January 2012.
The following written submissions covered both the draft network service provider registration exemption guideline and the draft exempt selling guideline.
