Overview

Initiation
Draft guideline

Draft guideline 

On 2 September 2025, we published the draft amendments to the Revenue determination guideline for NSW non-contestable projects with an accompanying explanatory statement (draft Non-contestable Guideline).

In 2024 the NSW Government made changes to the Electricity Infrastructure Investment Regulation 2021 (NSW) (EII Regulation) to provide flexibility in the way NSW Roadmap infrastructure projects are able to be delivered. The changes allow the AER to make revenue determinations for network infrastructure projects that combine both contestable and non-contestable components. We refer to these as hybrid revenue determinations. 

The draft amendments to the Non-contestable Guideline reflect the changes to the EII Regulation. Our proposed change is to include a new chapter 7 in the Non-contestable Guideline that outlines how for hybrid revenue determinations we intend to approach:

  • contestable and non-contestable components
  • the application of certain incentive schemes
  • adjustment mechanisms
  • the making of a hybrid revenue determination
  • modifying the steps of the non-contestable process to accommodate contestable competitive assessment processes. 

The draft amendments also include minor and administrative changes which incorporate changes to reflect up to date references to the regulatory framework.

We anticipate there may be future changes to the Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act 2020 (NSW) and the EII Regulation. At this stage we are consulting on how we intend to make hybrid revenue determinations to provide timely and clear direction to stakeholders on our proposed approach. We encourage stakeholders to provide feedback on our proposed approach. 

Invitation for submissions

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Interested stakeholder are invited to email submissions on the draft Non-contestable Guideline by Tuesday 30 September 2025 with the subject title of ‘Non-contestable Guideline 2025 review – submission’. 

Email your submissions to REZataer [dot] gov [dot] au (REZ[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).  

Alternatively, submissions may be sent to:

Mr Scott Haig 
Acting General Manager, 
Renewable Energy Zones Branch, Networks Regulation 
Australian Energy Regulator 
GPO Box 3131
CANBERRA ACT 2601

We prefer all submissions to be publicly available to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process. We will treat submissions as public documents unless otherwise requested. We will publish all non-confidential submissions on the AER's website. For further information on the AER's use and disclosure of information provided to it, see the ACCC/AER Information Policy.

We request parties wishing to submit confidential information: 

  • clearly identify the information that is the subject of the confidentiality claim
  • provide a non-confidential version of the submission in a form suitable for publication.

Key Documents

AER – draft Revenue determination guideline for NSW non-contestable projects (tracked changes) – September 2025
PDF (672.98KB) View details

Authors
AER
Document

AER – draft Appendix A EII Chapter 6A (tracked changes) – September 2025
PDF (810.76KB) View details

Authors
AER
Document

AER – draft Revenue determination guideline for NSW non-contestable projects (clean version) – September 2025
PDF (646.6KB) View details

Authors
AER
Document

AER – draft Appendix A EII Chapter 6A (clean version) – September 2025
PDF (782.03KB) View details

Authors
AER
Document

AER – Explanatory Statement to AER – draft Revenue determination guideline for NSW non-contestable projects – September 2025
PDF (453.27KB) View details

Authors
AER
Document