The AER released an initial report on its review of the approach to estimating tax for regulated energy networks on 28 June 2018. The initial report summarises and responds to stakeholder submissions to the issues paper released in May 2018. It highlights the lack of publicly available information to inform the review and lays the case for the AER to use its information gathering powers to request this information from the network service providers..

The AER commissioned two expert reports that were released with the initial report.

Interested parties were invited to join us for a public forum to discuss the initial report on 18 July 2018 in Sydney, NSW.

The slide presentations from the AER, Energy Networks Australia, Network Shareholders Group, and Consumer Challenge Panel are available below:

We invited written submissions on our initial report. Submissions closed on 26 July 2018.

On 17 August 2018 we wrote to all electricity and gas service providers requesting that they voluntarily provide some core tax information. We asked for responses by 31 August 2018.

Each of the businesses provided consent for the cover letters to be published, but the substantial content of the information provided has been claimed as confidential.

On 31 August 2018 we notified service providers of our intention to issue Regulatory Information Notices (RINs) that would request detailed tax information relevant to the tax review. We provided draft RINs and asked for written submissions in response by 28 September 2018.

The AER published a discussion paper on 2 November 2018 as part of the ongoing review of the approach to estimating tax for regulated energy networks. The discussion paper presents further analysis of the current tax management practices of the regulated networks, identifies possible changes to the AER’s regulatory tax approach and invites stakeholder comments.

The AER commissioned two expert reports that were released with the discussion paper.

We held a second public forum for this review with interested stakeholders in Sydney on 7 November 2018.

We invited written submissions on our discussion paper. Submissions closed on 23 November 2018.