Networks information requirements review

We invite network businesses and other interested parties to make a submission on our preliminary Orders (including data requirements) and explanatory statement by Friday, 31 March 2023.

Submissions should be emailed to networksinformation@aer.gov.au

We prefer that all submissions be publicly available to facilitate an informed and transparent consultative process. We will treat submissions as public documents unless otherwise requested. All non-confidential submissions will be placed on the AER's website. For further information regarding 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.

As outlined in our Explanatory Statement published January 2023, Power and Water Corporation have been excluded from the Annual Distribution Order. This is because, compared to other distributions networks in the national electricity market (NEM), Power and Water Corporation:

• is smaller in network size
• undertakes unique functions such as management of the technical code, market dispatch operations and transmission functions
• has community service obligations to remote communities
• is transitioning to NEM arrangements.

Our decision to exclude Power and Water from the Orders will be reviewed in the future, as part of an ongoing four yearly review cycle for the Orders and Notice.

The reporting obligations for Power and Water Corporation are defined in the Annual Regulatory Information Notice below. 

To develop the Notice we amended the Distribution Order, including the following changes:

• reference to Order changed to Notice
• legal detail updated to refer only to PWC
• references to electricity distributors changed to Power and Water Corporation
• definitions updated to reflect PWC does not connect to a transmission network
• validation rules allow for more NULL responses
• data requirements and definitions for public lighting removed
• maximum demand data requirements changed to reflect 3 separate distribution networks

We have also provided a register of changes made to the data workbooks for Power and Water Corporation.