Market Administration

The Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 ('Switching Rules') were gazetted by the Minister of Energy on 14 February 2008.

A copy of the rules is available by clicking on the relevant link below:

Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 (PDF 597 KB) in effect up to 10 February 2011

Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 (PDF 460 KB) in effect from 10 February 2011

The purpose of the Switching Rules is to establish a set of gas switching and registry arrangements that will enable consumers to choose, and alternate, efficiently and satisfactorily between competing retailers. The rules provide for:

• The establishment of a central registry of gas customers;
• The management of information held by the registry;
• The appointment of a registry operator; and
• A process for switching customers between retailers.

Parts 1, 2 and 4 of the Switching Rules (rules 1 to 50 and 88 to 91) came into effect on 13 March 2008. Those rules provide for the appointment of the registry operator and establishment of the registry. Part 3 (rules 51 to 87) deals with the processes for initiating and processing switches between retailers. Part 3 came into effect on the "go-live date" of 1 March 2009, being the date on which Gas Industry Co confirmed that the registry became fully operational under the Switching Rules.

Minor amendments to the Switching Rules

On 27 October 2010, Gas Industry Co made a recommendation to the Minister of Energy and Resources in respect of minor amendments to the Switching Rules. The amendments were gazetted on 13 January 2011 and came into force 28 days later. The amendments to the Rules fall into four categories:

• Altering the scope of some of the Rules to align with industry best practice;
• clarifying the scope of some of the Rules;
• promoting ease of understanding and interpretation; and
• resolving minor drafting and wording issues.

The original and amended versions of the Switching Rules can be viewed below in marked-up and in clean format:

Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 (clean version) - in effect up to 10 February 2011

Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 (track-changes version) - in effect from 10 February 2011

Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 (clean version) - in effect from 10 February 2011

Registry and Registry Operator

The Gas Registry website can be found at https://www.gasregistry.co.nz

The Rules require Gas Industry Co to appoint a registry operator. The gas registry is owned and operated by Jade Software Corporation (NZ) Limited and the service provider agreement can be viewed here.

The Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 require Gas Industry Co to determine and publish certain information required for the full implementation of the rules and of the gas registry in particular. These determinations are maintained in consultation with registry participants and the current version is available by clicking on the link below:

Switching Determinations v1.2

Analysis of Submissions and Responses v1.2

Gas Registry Access Application Form

This form should be used by industry participants to:

• update Participant Register information;
• create/expire Participant and ICP Distributor Codes;
• create/expire/reset FTP accounts; and
• create/expire Online Supervisor accounts.

The form can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the link below:

Gas Registry Access Application Form

Gas Gate Change Notice Form

This form should be used by distributors to provide notice of changes to gas gate information, including:

• creation of a new gas gate;
• changes to existing gas gate information; and
• decommissioning of an existing gas gate.

As required by rule 46 of the Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 distributors must provide notice to the industry body, registry operator, allocation agent and all affected retailers at least 20 business days before the effective date.

The form can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the link below:

Gas Gate Change Notice Form

Exemption Application Form

The form for an exemption application can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the link below. Gas Industry Co recommends that you follow the format to ensure that all the necessary information is provided and to avoid delays caused by an incomplete application.

Exemption Application Form

Your application should be in writing and addressed to the General Counsel, Gas Industry Co by email to: exemptionsgasindustry [dot] co [dot] nz. A hard copy of your application should also be forwarded.

Rules 24 through 26 of the Switching Rules provide for ongoing fees to be paid by retailers to Gas Industry Co on a monthly basis to meet the registry ongoing costs. The registry ongoing costs include the costs:

• payable by Gas Industry Co to the registry operator in respect of that year; and
• of Gas Industry Co associated with the registry and its role under the Switching Rules during that year.

Gas Industry Co has determined that the registry ongoing costs should exclude any overhead costs or policy work resulting from operational activities under the Switching Rules. Any such work is to be funded from the Gas Industry Co Levy. The registry ongoing costs therefore only relate to other direct external costs in connection with Gas Industry Co administering the Switching Rules.

For each year following the first year or part year of operation, Gas Industry Co must estimate and publish on its website, at least two months prior to the beginning of the year, a breakdown of the estimated registry ongoing costs for that year. As soon as practicable after the end of the year, Gas Industry Co must determine and publish on its website a breakdown of the actual registry ongoing costs for that year. The breakdown of actual and estimated costs are provided below for the relevant years.

Estimated ongoing costs for FY2013 (1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013)

Estimated ongoing costs for FY2012 (1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012)

Note: until mid-2011, ongoing registry costs were estimated and recovered based on calendar years. From July 2011 the timing changed to align with the Gas Industry Co financial year.

Ongoing costs for FY2011 (1 January 2011 - 30 June 2011)

Change of "payment year"

On 8 April 2011 Gas Industry Co notified gas registry participants that the payment year was to be changed from a calendar year to align with the Gas Industry Co financial year. The notice can be found here. This change required that the estimated ongoing costs for the six month period to 30 June 2011 be published and notified.

The current determinations by Gas Industry Co under the Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008 cover, amongst other things, report access restrictions and requirements. Under this determination Gas Industry Co intends to publish summary registry reports on its website including the following information on a monthly basis:

• Total numbers of ICPs by ICP status;
• Total numbers of active ICPs by responsible distributor, retailer and meter owner;
• Total numbers of active ICPs by gas gate and responsible retailer; and
• Summary registry and switching statistics.

The monthly reports are available by clicking on the links below:

Registry Operator Self-review Reports

Rule 18 requires that the registry operator must conduct a self-review of its performance on a monthly basis. The review must concentrate on the operation of the rules and the registry operator's compliance, in the previous month, with its obligations under the rules, the terms of the service provider agreements and any performance standards agreed between the registry operator and the industry body. Gas Industry Co is required to publish the reports, which can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the links below.