AER - Ring-fencing Guideline - Exposure Draft - 8 November 2016

On 9 November 2016 we published an exposure draft of our proposed Electricity Distribution Ring-fencing Guideline (the Exposure Draft) .

Changes to the Exposure Draft compared with Draft Guideline (published 15 August 2016) are summarised below.

Changes from the Draft Guideline

• Terminology changes to improve clarity. A definitions section is included in the guideline.
• Waivers from legal separation obligations are now permitted. The explanatory statement to the final guideline will describe when we are likely to grant waivers, such as in regard to other regulated services or services offered by DNSPs where there is a legal obligation.
• Waivers can now be sought for cross promotion and co-branding. These changes are consequential to other changes for legal separation waivers and staff sharing.
• Barriers to staff / office sharing remain but DNSPs may share staff or offices in circumstances where doing so will not compromise its compliance with the guideline. Where staff / offices are shared under this provision, the DNSP must maintain public registers to provide transparency.
• Interim waivers—may be sought, if necessary, while we undertake waiver assessments.
• DNSPs must comply with all of the guideline’s obligations as soon as reasonably practicable, but no later than 1 January 2018.