Posted October 2013
Quarterly report from the dispute resolution adviser in relation to the National Electricity Market and the National gas rules.
Summary
DRP stage 2: nil
Electricity - DMS stage 1: In the quarter ending April, I reported 2 new matters raised in the DMS stage relating to public lighting.
In one of the matters I met with the relevant parties, with consent of both and facilitated a conversation. The parties are continuing that dialogue on a commercial basis without a facilitator.
There were no other new matters
Gas: There were no new matters reported for Gas.
Training and forums: I established a consultation working group to assist the adviser. The group held its first meeting in Melbourne on 12 June 2013. Further details appear below under outputs.
Outputs for the quarter
Pool
- There will now be one pool from which DRP members are to be drawn for disputes in both Electricity and Gas. This is to reflect the adviser now holding both roles. The pool will still have specialists from each of the areas.
- As a first step, the current pool members in each were reappointed to the combined pool. A number of our pool members have retired. Each has made a tremendous contribution. I will be paying tribute to each when we have our web site finalised, so it is easy to post and access these reports.
- We have entered into contracts with each continuing pool member and updated their fee schedules and web profiles.
Establishment of a working group
We have established a working group of market participants to assist in setting the strategic vision for the adviser role and to provide industry perspective and input into priorities.
- The committee has made a number of positive suggestions. It has also assisted me with a new title, Wholesale Energy Market Dispute Resolution Adviser (WEM DRA). The new group will be known as the Wholesale market dispute resolution advisory group (WEM DAG).
- I am working on the following projects:
- Overhaul and update of the web site.
- Review of the appeal provisions from Chapter 8 on questions of law (adviser led).
- Interviews and appointment of further pool members.
- Drafting a suite of clauses for use in contracts.
To ensure that I work within the budget and time provided I will be focusing on the establishment of a core pool and the finalising of the web site, before tackling the other tasks.
Outputs for the quarter
Below are the outputs (based on the last quarterly report objectives):
- A strategic plan for the next 12 months (done until end of 2013).
- Establishment and meeting of the consultation committee (done).
- Finalise the DMC contacts (done).
- Establishment of a combined pool (core pool established).
Next stage outputs
This will involve:
- Finalising of a new structure for the WEM DR portion of the AER web site.
- Updating all forms and documents.
- Interviewing and appointing additional members to the pool.
- Finalising a view on the appeals provisions.
- Drafting a suite of clauses for participants to use in contracts.
- A further WEM DAG meeting.
This will be completed by the end of the calendar year to allow development time for the web site, which is always difficult to estimate accurately.
Please feel free to contact me with any queries, suggestions or changes.
Yours sincerely,
Shirli Kirschner
Hardcopy version of Quarterly report: April - June 2013
Dispute resolution adviser - Quarterly report: April-June 2013 ( DOCX 166.13 KB )