The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) is seeking feedback on its draft decision on the revenue that APTPPL, the owner and operator of the Roma to Brisbane gas transmission pipeline, can collect through network charges for the 2017-22 period.
The draft decision released today would result in revenue of $237.4 million being recovered from consumers over the five year period, 9.6 per cent less than for 2012-17. This draft decision allows $56.5 million (or 19.2 per cent) less revenue than sought by APTPPL in its proposal.
“The draft decision aims to achieve value for money for gas customers in and around Brisbane whilst enabling the pipeline to invest in and deliver long-term safe, secure and reliable gas supplies,” AER Chair Ms Paula Conboy said.
“If implemented in full, our draft decision would result in no material change to the transmission component of residential customers’ gas bills. Similarly, for large directly connected customers we expect any bill impact will be minimal.
“Ensuring stable gas network charges avoids adding further pressure to household and business budgets when many Australians are concerned about rising energy costs,” Ms Conboy said.
Ms Conboy said Australia’s gas market is changing and users of this pipeline are now increasingly seeking bidirectional services. This draft decision avoids any increases in gas pipeline costs for consumers in and around Brisbane, despite the increased demand to ship gas west to the Wallumbilla hub to feed into other markets.
The AER assessment shows that improvements in the investment environment since revenue allowances were last set in 2012 have reduced financing costs necessary to attract efficient investment, which would result in savings to consumers if the draft decision is implemented in full.
The draft decision has been developed in consultation with stakeholders and the AER’s technical experts. APTPPL will submit a revised proposal in response to this draft decision by 14 August 2017. Interested parties are invited to make submissions on both the draft decision and revised proposal by 15 September 2017. Final decisions are expected in November.