Date Published: 19 April 2007
The Government Policy Statement on Gas Governance ("GPS") invited Gas Industry Co to recommend arrangements, including regulations and rules where appropriate, for the standardisation and upgrading of protocols allowing customers to switch between retailers, so that barriers to competition are minimised. Following extensive development and consultation, Gas Industry Co issued a Decision Paper in January 2007 setting out the decisions that the Board had taken in respect of progressing the development of a set of switching rules, including a central gas registry and associated compliance arrangements. Although the Board confirmed its overall approach and intends to recommend the arrangements to the Minister of Energy, in response to submissions received on the decision paper, it has reconsidered issues associated with the allocation of switching and registry costs.
The purpose of this discussion paper was to:
- set out Gas Industry Co's review of the switching and registry cost allocation issues;
- describe Gas Industry Co's revised proposal for allocating these costs; and
- seek further stakeholder input on the revised proposal prior to finalising the recommendations to the Minister of Energy.
Gas Industry Co considered the submissions and made recommendations to the Minister of Energy on 31 May 2007.