On 9 August 2024 the AER published its proposed draft amendments to the cost benefit analysis (CBA) guidelines and application guidelines for regulatory investment tests (RIT-T & RIT-D) and instrument documents.
These amendments address the topics from the consultation paper and incorporate feedback recieved from written submissions and the public forums.
Following the release of the draft amendments we held 3 stakeholder forums in August.
| | Topic | AER Virtual Information session date |
| Industry experts | Valuing emissions reduction, Concessional Finance, Feedback Loop and Early Works | 26 August 2024 |
| Social Licence | 28 August 2024 |
| Broader stakeholders | Social Licence | 29 August 2024 |
AEMC final rule determination on early works
On 5 September 2024, the AEMC released the final rule change determination for Bringing early works forward to improve transmission planning, and the final rule now applies to actionable ISP projects.
Where the draft rule included a requirement for RIT proponents to include all early works costs in the RIT-T, the final rule requires incurred costs that are not recoverable to be treated as sunk. It also requires TNSPs to transparently document any early works costs in the RIT-T. Our draft amendments to the CBA Guidelines were based on the draft rule change determination released 23 May 2024. The final amendments to the CBA Guideline will therefore be different to the draft amendments to the extent necessary to implement the final rule.
The AEMC’s final determination also includes a transitional rule to allow any prior consultation to satisfy the rules requirements to update the CBA guidelines. We consider that submissions on our draft amendments will be relevant to the final amendments, but that stakeholders should have regard to the final rule change determination when making a submission to this CBA Guideline review.
If you wish to discuss this issue further, please contact RITguidelines
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (RITguidelines[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).
Invitation for submissions
Interested stakeholders are invited make a submission in response to the content of these draft amendments by 20 September 2024.
Submissions or enquiries about these draft amendments should be sent to RITguidelinesaer [dot] gov [dot] au (RITguidelines[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au). Alternative contact methods are available and are described in the explanatory statement.