Electricity Governance (Security of Supply) Regulations and AUFLS rule [Closing date: 2008/12/12 17:00:00 GMT+13]

Posted 14 November 2008

The Electricity Commission (Commission) is required to consider contingency arrangements to provide for the scheduling of outages, including rolling outages in the extreme event that blackouts are required to ensure a balance between supply and demand.

On 26 June 2008 the Commission recommended to the Minister of Energy (Minister) regulations, under the urgency provisions in the Electricity Act 1992 (Act), in case rolling outages had been required this winter. 

The Act requires that when regulations and rules are made under urgency, the Commission must, within six months, make a recommendation to the Minister on whether or not the regulations/rules should be revoked, replaced or amended.  Before making its recommendation the Commission must prepare a statement of proposal and consult with affected parties.

The Commission has reviewed the regulations and the automatic under frequency load shedding (AUFLS) rule made under urgency. 

The Commission has also reviewed the draft security of supply outage plan (SOSOP) for consistency with the regulations proposed here and identified amendments and enhancements. 

The Commission therefore invites submissions on the paper Arrangements for Rolling Outages Consultation Paper, November 2008 pdf [755 KB]. Appendices in this paper include the proposed:

1. revised regulations;
2. revised AUFLS rule; and
3. draft SOSOP.
   

The consultation paper includes, for items (b) and for (c), a statement of proposal in accordance with section 172F of the Electricity Act.  As such, for each, it is required to set out a detailed statement of the proposal, a statement of the reasons for the proposal, an assessment of the proposal and of all reasonably practicable options identified by the Commission, and any other information the Commission considers relevant. 

The consultation requirements for the SOSOP are set out in the Amended Security Regulations, and this consultation process is designed to meet those requirements also. 
The Commission invites submissions on each of the three proposals in the consultation paper.

The Commission’s preference is to receive submissions in electronic format (Microsoft Word). It is not necessary to send hard copies of submissions to the Commission, unless it is not possible to do so electronically.  Submissions in electronic form should be emailed to submissions@electricitycommission.govt.nz with Consultation Paper—Arrangements for Rolling Outages in the subject line.

If submitters do not wish to send their submission electronically, they should post one hard copy of their submission to the address below.

Maree McGregor
Electricity Commission
PO Box 10041
Wellington 6143
Level 7, ASB Bank Tower
2 Hunter Street
Wellington
Tel: 0-4-460 8860
Fax: 0-4-460 8879

Submissions should be received by 5:00pm on 12 December 2008.  Please note that late submissions are unlikely to be considered.

The Commission will acknowledge receipt of all submissions electronically. Please contact Maree McGregor if you do not receive electronic acknowledgement of your submission within two business days.

If possible, submissions should be provided in the format shown in Appendix 6 of the consultation paper.

Your submission is likely to be made available to the general public on the Commission’s website. Submitters should indicate any documents attached, in support of the submission, in a covering letter and clearly indicate any information that is provided to the Commission on a confidential basis. However, all information provided to the Commission is subject to the Official Information Act 1982.