Proposal to Approve a Joint Electricity and Gas Complaints Resolution Scheme
Through a Request for Applications, the Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Co sought applications for a Joint Electricity and Gas Complaints Scheme, to be approved under the Electricity Act and the Gas Act. As a result of evaluating applications, the Electricity and Gas Complaints Scheme (EGCC) has been selected as the preferred applicant.
As previously foreshadowed it is now appropriate to consult on the comparison of the preferred applicant for an Approved scheme with other options for providing a complaints resolution scheme. For comparative purposes, the other options include the Status Quo and two variants of a Regulated scheme. A consultation paper has been prepared for this purpose. The paper can also be accessed on the Electricity Commission website. The Consultation Paper asks a series of questions and the responses to those questions will be an input to the final decision by the Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Co on whether to decide on progressing the Approved scheme option or another option.
Consideration of further information
The consultation paper that has been released compares the application from the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commission (EGCC) for an ‘approved’ complaints resolution scheme with other options for complaints resolution, including regulated options. The EGCC option in the paper is based on the EGCC’s proposals to amend its constitution.
On 8 April 2009, the Electricity Commission and Gas Industry Co received a letter from the EGCC advising that EGCC members had declined to agree some of these amendment proposals.
EGCC letter dated 6 April 2009
On 8 April 2009, the Electricity Commission also released information relating to the evaluation process under the Official Information Act. In order that all stakeholders have access to the same information, the Commission and Gas Industry Co have agreed to publish the material that was released. It is as follows:
In light of the EGCC’s letter, the Commission and Gas Industry Co are now considering the way forward and will discuss this at their next Board meetings at the end of April. Submitters’ views are important in helping the Commission and Gas Industry Co to determine an appropriate way forward. Stakeholders are still invited to make submissions on the issues canvassed in the consultation paper, in particular, whether there is a preference for an approved scheme provided by the industry, or a regulated scheme.
In recognition of the fact that new material has been released, the Commission and GIC have agreed to extend the submission closing date to 4pm on Monday 20 April 2009.
The preference is to receive submissions in electronic form (Microsoft Word format or pdf) with ‘Submission on Approval of a Complaints Resolution Scheme’ in the subject header to submissions
electricitycommission [dot] govt [dot] nz. However, submissions may also be uploaded onto the Gas Industry Co website, using the ‘Upload Submission’ button below.
Submissions received by Gas Industry Co will be consolidated with those received by the Electricity Commission.
