The Chair of Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee is calling for submissions on the Electricity Industry Amendment Bill. The bill would amend the Electricity Industry Act 2010, which governs the Electricity Authority and the Electricity Industry Participation Code. The Electricity Authority regulates New Zealand’s electricity market and the Electricity Industry Participation Code sets out the responsibilities of industry participants.

The bill would:

· establish an advocacy agency for small electricity consumers, such as households and small businesses

· enable a levy on industry participants to recover the Government’s costs relating to this advocacy

· add an additional objective for the Electricity Authority to protect the interests of household and small business consumers in their dealings with industry participations

· move provisions that relate to a distributor’s involvement in generation or retailing activities from Part 3 of the Act into the Electricity Industry Participation Code

· enable the Electricity Industry Participation Code to regulate distribution access terms and conditions, as it already does for transmission terms and conditions.

The bill would also amend other parts of the Act. This includes amendments to the powers of the Electricity Authority and the Minister of Energy and Resources.

Tell the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee what you think

Make a submission on the bill by midnight on 17 November 2021.

For more details about the bill:

· Read the full content of the bill

· Get more details about the bill

· What’s been said in Parliament about the bill?

· Follow the committee’s Facebook page for updates
 

© Scoop Media