Page 4259 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 24 October 2017
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Act 2014. These acts provide for the regulation of utility services in the territory, ranging from electricity to gas to water supply. They regulate the generation and supply of utility services, including, for the purposes of this bill, the distribution of electricity. Together the Utilities Act and the Utilities (Technical Regulation) Act have regulatory goals relating to the safe, reliable and efficient delivery of services, the protection of customers and the protection of public safety and the environment.
Madam Assistant Speaker, the amendments proposed by the government today are to insert a regulation-making power into both the Utilities Act and the Utilities (Technical Regulation) Act that will enable whole classes of utility services to be removed from the regulatory scheme if certain conditions are met. The bill also proposes a second set of amendments which will provide for the first opportunity to use the exemption power.
The first class of utility services to be exempted under each act are embedded electricity networks. Clauses 4 and 7 of the bill insert a general power to make an exemption regulation in the Utilities Act and the Utilities (Technical Regulation) Act respectively. This power allows the executive to make a regulation that exempts a class of utility services from the respective act if the minister is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the service is adequately regulated under another territory law or national law or is not required to be regulated.
For the Utilities Act provision the minister must also be satisfied that exempting the class of utility service will not significantly impede the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission’s objects under section 3 of that act. For the Utilities (Technical Regulation) Act provision the minister must be satisfied that making the class exempt will not impede the achievement of the object of the UTR act.
By making the exemption power subject to these considerations the minister and the executive must consider the broader legislative context and make a determination about whether the regulation in place for that class of utility services is appropriate. This is about ensuring that regulation is necessary and targeted, with the right set of rules applying to the right sized operations.
The minister is also required to consult with the relevant regulator when considering these issues—that is the ICRC for the Utilities Act and the technical regulator for the Utilities (Technical Regulation) Act. This will ensure that the relevant regulatory expert provides advice on the adequacy of the current regulatory scheme and whether an exemption will be inconsistent with other provisions of the act.
It is important for the minister to receive the advice of the relevant regulatory expert, given the complexity and multifaceted nature of utility regulation. Under clauses 4 and 7 of the bill a number of other factors must be considered by the minister in determining whether the current regulatory regime is adequate. These include: the nature and kind of utility service; the risk of the utility service failing or failing to provide the service in a safe, reliable and effective way; and the consequences of a failure for consumers, public safety and the environment.
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