In Western Australia, the ERA is responsible for administering, monitoring and enforcing compliance of the economic regulatory framework applying to gas pipelines.
A pipeline may be a scheme pipeline or a non-scheme pipeline depending on the form of economic regulation that applies. There are three forms of economic regulation that can apply to gas pipelines:
- full regulation (which applies to scheme pipelines);
- light regulation (scheme pipelines); and
- the information disclosure, access request and arbitration framework which applies to non-scheme pipelines. This framework is also commonly referred to as the Part 23 regime, as Part 23 of the National Gas Rules establishes rules for non-scheme pipelines.
Currently, the ERA recovers its costs for the performance of its functions relating to scheme pipelines from industry. However, to date the ERA’s costs of performing its functions relating to the Part 23 regime have been borne by the ERA, as there is no mechanism for the ERA to recover its costs of regulating non-scheme gas pipelines from industry.
To address this, Energy Policy WA has developed a range of options for a cost recovery mechanism and prepared a consultation paper which provides background on the Part 23 regime, the ERA’s functions and some proposed cost recovery models.
The consultation paper is available below.
Submissions on the consultation paper closed on 10 November 2020.
