Overview

Introduction

A recommendation was made to the Minister of Energy in mid-2007 for the establishment of a central gas registry and associated rules to support the ready switching of gas customers between retailers. Relevant amendments to support this were made to the Gas Act in 2008 and the Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 were approved and came into effect for the gas registry elements in March 2008. The overall objective of this project is to implement switching so as to achieve the regulatory objective set out in the Recommendation to the Minister: specifically, to bring the Switching Rules into effect (go-live) by 1 March 2009 by deploying a registry system that enables the appointed Registry Operator to supply the required services to the industry reliably and cost-effectively. This aim has now been achieved with the Rules now fully in effect. Another aim is to aid the industry in carrying out its part in making the switching regime work, including effective participation in the user acceptance testing, population of the registry with complete and accurate information and facilitating industry compliance with the new switching arrangements.

Summary of Status

The go-live date of 1 March 2009 has been met with Gas Industry Co confirming that the registry is fully operational in accordance with the Switching Rules. Formal migration of data into the registry has occurred, and all major registry functions have been established and tested. Accordingly, registry and the switching regime set out in the Switching Rules are now fully in effect.

A key step in the implementation process has been the appointment of Jade Software as the registry operator. A competitive process was conducted for this appointment based on the issue of an RFP, the evaluation of proposals received to select a preferred respondent, and then the negotiation of agreements with that respondent. The two agreements resulting from this process – an Operating Agreement and a Development and Establishment Agreement – were executed on 1 September 2008. As a part of the negotiation process a detailed business requirements specification was agreed with Jade which enabled development work to start in parallel with the completion of negotiations.

Contact Details
Ian Dempster
Tel: 04 494 2467
Ian.Dempster @ gasindustry.co.nz