Annual Report

96
Appendices (cont.)
(d) Improving demand side participation
information provided to AEMO by registered
participants – effective 26 March 2015,
this rule allows AEMO to set guidelines
requiring distributors to provide it with
Demand Side Participation Information
(DSP Information), which AEMO will
use in making its short and long term
load forecasts. AEMO must have regard
to registered participants' costs of
compliance when making guidelines
and must publish details annually on the
extent to which DSP Information it has
obtained has informed the development
or use of its electricity load forecasts.
Significant judicial decisions, new codes
of practice and compliance exemptions
Distributor Licence Conditions
The Minister for Energy reviewed and
varied conditions relating to reliability
and performance in distributor licenses
pursuant to the Electricity Supply Act 1995
(NSW), effective from 1 July 2014. The new
conditions, among other things, specify
minimum reliability performance for
individual feeders and minimum average
reliability performance for distributors
across their network, by feeder type.
Distributors must compensate customers
that receive poor supply reliability from the
distributor. Distributors must also make
quarterly reports to the Minister relating
to individual feeder standards, network
overall reliability standards and customer
service standards.
The Federal Court handed down its
decision in SPI Electricity Pty Ltd v Australian
Energy Regulator [2014] FCA 1012 on
17 September 2014. SPI Electricity Pty Ltd
(SPI), a distributor in Victoria, applied for
judicial review of a decision by the AER in
respect of SPI's budget for the 2012‐2015
period for the installation of advanced
meters in residential premises and small
business premises in Victoria. SPI alleged
that the AER had failed to take into account
costs that would be incurred by a reasonable
business in SPI's circumstances to switch
from the current technology employed
to the advanced meters.
The Court found that the AER’s Amended
Budget Determination was not affected by
reviewable error. The AER had conceived
and taken into account hypothetical steps
that might or could have been undertaken
by a hypothetical reasonable business to
fund relevant hypothetical expenditure.
The Court noted that the exercise which
the AER was required to perform was
essentially hypothetical. Accordingly, the
Court found that the AER’s amended budget
determination was not affected by reviewable
error and dismissed the application
Bob's Farm incident
Occupational health and safety prosecution
proceedings were initiated by the WorkCover
Authority of NSW against Ausgrid following
an incident on 29 October 2010 in which
an Ausgrid employee was injured. Ausgrid
entered a plea of guilty in the District Court
and the sentencing hearing took place
on 28 July 2014. The Court handed down
its judgment on 7 August 2014 and fined
Ausgrid $100,000.
Kogarah incident
Occupational health and safety prosecution
proceedings were initiated by the WorkCover
Authority of NSW against Ausgrid following
an incident on 5 June 2010 at a property
on the Princes Highway at Kogarah. At the
time, Ausgrid’s principal contractor Diona
Pty Ltd was undertaking trench excavation
works on the project. Diona’s sub‐contractor
Fer‐Aim Pty Ltd was excavating outside the
property when the brick building façade
subsided. Ausgrid entered a plea of guilty
to an amended charge in the District Court
and the sentencing hearing took place on
24 June 2015. The Court handed down
its judgment on 26 June 2015 and fined
Ausgrid $37,500.