Switching and Registry

The Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 (‘Switching Rules’) were gazetted by the Minister of Energy on 14 February 2008.

A copy of the rules is available by clicking on the link below:

Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 (PDF 597 KB)

 

The purpose of the Switching Rules is to establish a set of gas switching and registry arrangements that will enable consumers to choose, and alternate, efficiently and satisfactorily between competing retailers. The rules provide for:

• The establishment of a central registry of gas customers;
• The management of information held by the registry;
• The appointment of a registry operator; and
• A process for switching customers between retailers.

Parts 1, 2 and 4 of the Switching Rules (rules 1 to 50 and 88 to 91) came into effect on 13 March 2008. Those rules provide for the appointment of the registry operator and establishment of the registry. Part 3 (rules 51 to 87) deals with the processes for initiating and processing switches between retailers. Part 3 came into effect on the “go-live date” of 1 March 2009, being the date on which Gas Industry Co confirmed that the registry became fully operational under the Switching Rules.

The Gas Registry website can be found at https://www.gasregistry.co.nz

The Rules require Gas Industry Co to appoint a registry operator. The gas registry is owned and operated by Jade Software Corporation (NZ) Limited and the service provider agreement can be viewed here.

The Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 require Gas Industry Co to determine and publish certain information required for the full implementation of the rules and of the gas registry in particular. These determinations are maintained in consultation with registry participants and the current version is available by clicking on the link below:
 

Switching Determinations v1.2

Analysis of Submissions and Responses v1.2

 

Rule 90 of the Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 provides for transitional exemptions to be granted. The process for dealing with exemptions applications under the Switching Rules is very similar to that for dealing with exemptions under the Reconciliation Rules. To assist registry participants, a general information paper on exemptions has thus been prepared and this can be downloaded by clicking the link below.

Information Paper - Dealing with Exemptions under the Downstream Reconciliation and Switching Rules

 

The table below sets out exemption applications received under the Switching Rules, the status of those applications and gives notice of any exemptions granted by Gas Industry Co. The status descriptions are as follows:

• Pending – application received and under consideration (including any required consultation)
• Granted – an exemption (partial or full) has been granted in respect of the application
• Declined – application has been declined

 

 Exemptions considered

Application	Status	Notice
SW08-01-T Might River Power	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-02-T Energy Online	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-03-T Powerco	Declined
SW08-04-T Auckland Gas Co	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-05-T Bay of Plenty Energy	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-06-T Nova Gas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-07-T Energy Direct NZ	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-08-T Genesis Energy	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-09-T On Gas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-10-T Contact Energy	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-11-T Nova Gas	Declined
SW08-12-T Greymouth Gas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW08-13-T E-Gas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2009
SW10-01-T Genesis Energy	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-02-T OnGas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-03-T E-Gas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-04-T Energy Direct NZ	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-05-T Contact Energy	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-06-T Mighty River Power	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-07-T Greymouth Gas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-08-T Energy Online	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-09-T Auckland Gas Company	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-10-T Bay of Plenty Energy	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010
SW10-11-T Nova Gas	Granted	Transitional Exemption (Retailer Switch Notice Response Timeframes) Notice 2010

 

Applying for an exemption

The form for an exemption application is set out at the link below. Gas Industry Co recommends that you follow the format to ensure that all the necessary information is provided and to avoid delays caused by an incomplete application.

Exemption Application Form  

Your application should be in writing and addressed to the General Counsel, Gas Industry Co by email to: exemptionsgasindustry [dot] co [dot] nz. A hard copy of your application should also be forwarded.

 

 

 

Gas Registry Access Application Form

This form should be used by industry participants to:

• update Participant Register information;
• create/expire Participant and ICP Distributor Codes;
• create/expire/reset FTP accounts; and
• create/expire Online Supervisor accounts.

The form can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the link below:

Gas Registry Access Application Form

 

Gas Gate Change Notice Form

This form should be used by distributors to provide notice of changes to gas gate information, including:

• creation of a new gas gate;
• changes to existing gas gate information; and
• decommissioning of an existing gas gate.

As required by rule 46 of the Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 distributors must provide notice to the industry body, registry operator, allocation agent and all affected retailers at least 20 business days before the effective date.

The form can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the link below:

Gas Gate Change Notice Form

 

Exemption Application Form

The form for an exemption application can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the link below. Gas Industry Co recommends that you follow the format to ensure that all the necessary information is provided and to avoid delays caused by an incomplete application.

Exemption Application Form

Your application should be in writing and addressed to the General Counsel, Gas Industry Co by email to: exemptionsgasindustry [dot] co [dot] nz. A hard copy of your application should also be forwarded.

 

Rules 24 through 26 of the Switching Rules provide for ongoing fees to be paid by retailers to Gas Industry Co on a monthly basis to meet the registry ongoing costs. The registry ongoing costs include the costs:

• payable by Gas Industry Co to the registry operator in respect of that year; and
• of Gas Industry Co associated with the registry and its role under the Switching Rules during that year.

Gas Industry Co has determined that the registry ongoing costs should exclude any overhead costs or policy work resulting from operational activities under the Switching Rules. Any such work is to be funded from the Gas Industry Co Levy. The registry ongoing costs therefore only relate to other direct external costs in connection with Gas Industry Co administering the Switching Rules.

 

Estimated ongoing costs for January through December 2010

For each year following the first year or part year of operation, Gas Industry Co must estimate and publish on its website, at least two months prior to the beginning of the year, a breakdown of the estimated registry ongoing costs for that year. The breakdown is set out in the table below.

 

Cost categories	Estimated annual cost
Service provider - base fee	$243,600
Service provider - system changes	$30,000
Service provider - escrow arrangements	$4,000
External advisers	$30,000
Total registry ongoing costs	$307,600

 

Actual ongoing costs for March through December 2009

Following the commencement date, Gas Industry Co determined and published on its website a breakdown of the estimated registry ongoing costs for the first part year of operation of the registry. Given that the Switching Rules went live on 1 March 2009, the registry ongoing costs were estimated for the balance of calendar 2009, ie a period of 10 months.
As soon as practicable after the end of the year, Gas Industry Co must determine and publish on its website a breakdown of the actual registry ongoing costs for that year. The breakdown of actual registry ongoing costs is given in the table below.
 

Cost categories	Actual cost ($)
Service provider - base fee	200,340
Service provider - system changes	1,200
Service provider - escrow arrangements	1,850
External advisers	0
Total registry ongoing costs	203,390
Amount recovered through market fees	250,000
Over-recovery	46,610

No less than 10 business days after publication Gas Industry Co is required to invoice, or issue a credit note to, each retailer with the difference between that retailer’s share of the actual registry ongoing costs and the amount of the estimated registry ongoing costs invoiced to that retailer for that year.

 

Registry Development Costs

 Rules 22 and 23 of the Switching Rules provide for registry development fees to be paid by registry participants to Gas Industry Co to meet the registry development costs. The registry development costs include the:

• capital costs associated with the development of the registry;
• costs associated with the appointment of the registry operator; and
• costs of Gas Industry Co in connection with the development and establishment of the registry.

Gas Industry Co has determined that its costs should exclude overhead costs and policy work resulting from operational activities under the Switching Rules.

As soon as practicable after the commencement date (13 March 2008), Gas Industry Co was required to determine and publish, on its website, a breakdown of the estimated registry development costs.

As soon as practicable after the go-live date (1 March 2009), Gas Industry Co was required to determine and publish, on its website, a breakdown of the actual registry development costs.

The estimated and actual development costs are provided below:

 

Cost categories	Estimated Cost	Actual Cost
Registry development capital costs, consisting of: registry operator system development; user acceptance testing support; and transition/data population support	$800,000	$876,149
Registry operator appointment costs, consisting of: RFP evaluation and requirements specification; and contract negotiation and legal advice	$125,000	$100,702
Industry body development/establishment costs	$150,000	$118,560
Total registry development costs	$1,075,000	$1,095,411

The difference between actual and estimated registry capital costs is largely attributable to system change requests which were agreed with the industry prior to go-live.

In accordance with rule 23.5, each participant was invoiced with the difference between their share of the actual costs and the amount of the estimated costs allocated to that person.
 

The current determinations by Gas Industry Co under the Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 cover, amongst other things, report access restrictions and requirements. Under this determination Gas Industry Co intends to publish summary registry reports on its website including the following information on a monthly basis:

• Total numbers of ICPs by ICP status;
• Total numbers of active ICPs by responsible distributor, retailer and meter owner;
• Total numbers of active ICPs by gas gate and responsible retailer; and
• Summary registry and switching statistics.

The monthly reports are available by clicking on the links below:

 

March 2009	January 2010
April 2009	February 2010
May 2009	March 2010
June 2009	April 2010
July 2009	May 2010
August 2009	June 2010
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009

   

Registry Operator Self-review Reports

Rule 18 requires that the registry operator must conduct a self-review of its performance on a monthly basis. The review must concentrate on the operation of the rules and the registry operator's compliance, in the previous month, with its obligations under the rules, the terms of the service provider agreements and any performance standards agreed between the registry operator and the industry body. Gas Industry Co is required to publish the reports, which can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the links below.

 

March 2009	January 2010
April 2009	February 2010
May 2009	March 2010
June 2009	April 2010
July 2009	May 2010
August 2009	June 2010
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009