Retail Gas Contracts Assessments

 

2012 Assessment of Retail Gas Contracts Update

 

Gas Industry Co has commenced its preparation for the 2012 assessment of retail contracts for reticulated natural gas against Gas Industry Co’s Retail Gas Contract Benchmarks.  The following updates the process and timing of the assessment.

 

• On 16 March 2012 Gas Industry Co has published minor amendments to the benchmark 9 and the interpretation of  benchmark 16.  See http://gasindustry.co.nz/work-programme/retail-contracts/retail-gas-contracts-assessments.  
• A number of retailers have indicated they are planning to amend their contractual terms before the next assessment date.  These amendments should be completed and published by 1 July 2012 to be included in this year’s review.  If you haven’t done so already, please let me know if you expect to update your terms in time for this year’s assessment. 
• The publication of the 2012 assessment reports and compliance results will name each individual retailer and discuss each retailer’s level of compliance against the benchmarks.
• The contact details for each retailer have been passed on to the independent assessor (Elwood Law) and they will email you in early June to confirm the retail contracts that should be downloaded from your websites, and the links where those documents are published.
• The assessment date (when published contracts will be downloaded from your website) is scheduled for 1 July 2012.  However, as that date is a Sunday, the documents are likely to be downloaded on Monday, 2 July 2012. 
• Gas Industry Co expects draft assessment reports will be issued to retailers around late July, and a period of at least 3 weeks provided in August for retailers to provide feedback on their draft assessments to Elwood Law.
• This year the process will include the option of meeting with Elwood Law to discuss your draft assessment (in addition to the option of providing written feedback).  A representative from Gas Industry Co will attend any such meetings.
• We expect to receive the finalised report by late September 2012 and to publish the report and send a copy to the Minister of Energy and Resources by mid-October 2012. 

If you have any questions in relation to the assessment process contact Jacki Eves at Gas Industry Co, 04 494 2466 or jacki [dot] evesgasindustry [dot] co [dot] nz. 

The timeline for the 2012 assessments is as follows:

 

Date	Activity	Responsible party
Early May 2012	Reminder sent to retailers that the assessment process is about to commence	Gas Industry Co
Early June 2012	Retailer asked to confirm list of documentation, website links and other material relevant to the review	Elwood Law
By mid-June 2012	Retailers to confirm documentation and links, and advise whether any amendments to documentation planned before assessment date	Retailers
1 or 2 July 2012	Documents accessed and downloaded for assessment	Elwood Law
Late July	Draft individual assessments circulated to retailers for comment	Elwood Law
24 August 2012	Feedback on draft assessment due from retailers	Retailers
By end of September 2012	Final assessments reports provided to GIC	Elwood Law
By mid-October 2012	Assessment results sent to Minister and published on GIC website	Gas Industry Co

Minor Benchmark Amendments (March 2012)

Gas Industry Co has made amendments to Benchmarks 9 and 16. The link to the amendments can be found here.

Retail Gas Contracts Assessment 2012

Gas Industry Co is proposing an amendment to the interpretation of Benchmark 16.

The link to the proposal can be found here

Gas Industry Co also welcomes any comment on the revised interpretation of Benchmark 16.  Please provide any comment to Jacki Eves at jacki [dot] evesgasindustry [dot] co [dot] nz by Monday 30^th January 2012.  Following consideration of any comments, Gas Industry Co will publish the amended interpretation in February 2012.

Submissions

Mercury Energy

Retail Gas Contracts Assessment 2011

On 12 May 2010, the Associate Minister of Energy and Resources endorsed Gas Industry Co’s recommendation that a retail contracts oversight scheme be established. As part of that scheme, a “baseline” assessment of gas supply arrangements as at 15 June 2010 was completed and published in August 2010.

A “transitional” assessment of arrangements at 1 July 2011 has been undertaken by an Independent Assessor, Elwood Law, to establish the degree of progress made by each retailer in aligning with the benchmarks since the baseline assessment. A consolidated report for the whole industry has been submitted to the Acting Minister and can be found here.

Letter to retailers on Transitional Assessment

Document list for 2011 Transitional Assessment report

The link to the Retail Gas Contracts benchmarks Restatement 2011 can be found here.