Date Published: 17 April 2013
In December 2012, Gas Industry Co made a recommendation to the Minister of Energy and Resources ('the Minister') on amendments to the Gas (Downstream Reconciliation) Rules 2008 ('the Rules'). The Minister accepted the recommendation and the amended Rules were gazetted on 28 February 2013, with an effective date of 1 June 2013.
The amended Rules require that Gas Industry Co determines and publishes certain technical details, these are:
- a list of direct connect gas gates;
- a list of unmetered and oversized metered gas gates; and
- criteria for the determination of global 1-month (G1M) gas gates
In addition, during policy development of the amendments, the Downstream Reconciliation Advisory Group noted that it would be beneficial for Gas Industry Co to provide guidance on a number of matters introduced in the amended Rules, in particular, correction of annual UFG factors and audits of major system changes.
This Consultation Paper included proposals on the above issues and sought feedback from participants. The Consultation Paper also covered further matters associated with the implementation of the amended Rules, including:
- revocation of seven exemptions which will be made redundant by the amendments to the Rules;
- variation of one exemption to align with the go-live of G1M arrangements under the Rules;
- consideration of a new exemption application from the allocation agent associated with go-live of G1M arrangements under the Rules; and
- updates to current determinations and guidelines on the Gas Industry Co website reflecting the amendments to the Rules and experience with operation of reconciliation arrangements over the past five years.