in the future. Government Response: Accepted Energy The initiatives of the and MCE’s National Energy Customer Framework Energy are expected to Technical and Safety Regulatory Harmonisation Enhancement Plan minimise the burden on industry of providing information by promoting national consistency. Existing information provision requirements within energy legislation are being considered in the development of these initiatives with a view to streamlining the provision of information to energy market institutions. In June 2008, the MCE established an industry group to identify opportunities for greater harmonisation in energy supply industry regulation, compliance and training. The group provided its Energy Technical and Safety Harmonisation Enhancement Plan to the MCE in November 2009, which was accepted in principle by the MCE on 4 December 2009. This Plan recommended the development of an Intergovernmental Agreement to commit the state and territory governments to adopt a new ‘safety case’ standard for the electricity supply industry, mutual recognition by regulators of the standard and the establishment of an ongoing governance body to facilitate the sharing of information by regulators. The MCE considers these recommendations will assist in reducing the compliance costs and reporting for multi-jurisdictional network operators and ensuring the consistent interpretation of reporting requirements by regulators. In implementing reporting processes, the Government notes that applying a standard model may not be consistent with all reporting requirements, such as for network business regulatory resets or for the calculation of industry-wide parameters for economic regulation. Those specific recommendations on economic regulation should be appropriately referred to the Australian Energy Regulator. The Government also notes that industry has previously indicated concerns about the sharing of information between energy market institutions, particularly with respect to the broad information gathering powers of the new Australian Energy Market Operator. In response to those concerns, the MCE has agreed that these powers should not be widely utilised, nor should there be unnecessary sharing of the information gathered. Water Under the Water Act 2007 the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) was tasked with collecting, holding, interpreting and disseminating Australia's water information, together with providing reports, forecasts and water accounts information. BoM is working closely with water data owners to coordinate and implement the development of a national system for water information storage, analysis and reporting which requires a high level of collaboration between stakeholders. An external Steering Committee has been formed to oversee the development of the The first phase of Australian Water Resources Information System (AWRIS). AWRIS is focussed around a two-year, $10 million project funded by the National Water Commission's Raising National Water Standards programme. This will deliver
in the future. Government Response: Accepted Energy The MCE’s initiatives of the National Energy Customer Framework and Energy Technical and Safety Regulatory Harmonisation Enhancement Plan are expected to minimise the burden on industry of providing information by promoting national consistency. Existing information provision requirements within energy legislation are being considered in the development of these initiatives with a view to streamlining the provision of information to energy market institutions. In June 2008, the MCE established an industry group to identify opportunities for greater harmonisation in energy supply industry regulation, compliance and training. The group provided its Energy Technical and Safety Harmonisation Enhancement Plan to the MCE in November 2009, which was accepted in principle by the MCE on 4 December 2009. This Plan recommended the development of an Intergovernmental Agreement to commit the state and territory governments to adopt a new ‘safety case’ standard for the electricity supply industry, mutual recognition by regulators of the standard and the establishment of an ongoing governance body to facilitate the sharing of information by regulators. The MCE considers these recommendations will assist in reducing the compliance costs and reporting for multi-jurisdictional network operators and ensuring the consistent interpretation of reporting requirements by regulators. In implementing reporting processes, the Government notes that applying a standard model may not be consistent with all reporting requirements, such as for network business regulatory resets or for the calculation of industry-wide parameters for economic regulation. Those specific recommendations on economic regulation should be appropriately referred to the Australian Energy Regulator. The Government also notes that industry has previously indicated concerns about the sharing of information between energy market institutions, particularly with respect to the broad information gathering powers of the new Australian Energy Market Operator. In response to those concerns, the MCE has agreed that these powers should not be widely utilised, nor should there be unnecessary sharing of the information gathered. Water Under the Water Act 2007 the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) was tasked with collecting, holding, interpreting and disseminating Australia's water information, together with providing reports, forecasts and water accounts information. BoM is working closely with water data owners to coordinate and implement the development of a national system for water information storage, analysis and reporting which requires a high level of collaboration between stakeholders. An external Steering Committee has been formed to oversee the development of the Australian Water Resources Information System (AWRIS). The first phase of AWRIS is focussed around a two-year, $10 million project funded by the National Water Commission's Raising National Water Standards programme. This will deliver
govt_response_pc_review_sei_services.docx