The Governing Body is assisted by the Secretariat, which consists of a Chief Employee and public service officers appointed or made available under Part 3 of the Public Sector Management Act 1994 .

Secretariat staff are the initial point of contact in the Economic Regulation Authority’s ( ERA ) day-to-day dealings on matters relating to gas, electricity, rail and water regulation. Also, the Secretariat is the initial point of contact for inquiries referred to the ERA by the State Government. While Secretariat staff may provide assistance on these matters, it is the Governing Body that has ultimate responsibility for regulatory and inquiry functions.

The Secretariat comprises five operational and two business support divisions.

The operational divisions, and their respective responsibilities, are:

Access

There are two access divisions responsible for administering the third party access regime for regulated infrastructure in Western Australia.

One access division is responsible for:

• administering the third party access regime under the Electricity Industry Act 2004;
• administering the disputes mechanism under the Electricity Industry Metering Code 2005 and the Electricity Industry Customer Transfer Code 2004 ;
• administering the technical rules approvals process for both ‘covered’ and ‘non-covered’ electricity networks under the Electricity Networks Access Code 2004; and
• administering the third party access regime and associated arrangements such as ring fencing and associate contracts for the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.

The other division is responsible for:

• administering the third party access regime and associated arrangements such as ring fencing and associate contracts for the Mid-West and South-West Gas Distribution Systems and the Goldfields Gas Pipeline; and
• administering the third party access regime including segregation arrangements, Part 5 instruments, floor and ceiling costs and weighted average cost of capital determinations for regulated rail networks under the Rail (Access) Code 2000 .

In addition, obligations under the National Gas Law are undertaken across the two access divisions.

Markets

The Markets Division is responsible for:

• surveillance of the wholesale electricity market ( WEM ) in the South West Interconnected System of Western Australia;
• monitoring the WEM operations and conducting reviews to ensure the market is effectively meeting the wholesale market objectives;
• assessing the state of competition in electricity and gas retail markets; and
• administering Part 2B of the Energy Coordination Act 1994 relating to gas supply: retail market schemes.

Licensing, Monitoring and Customer Protection

The Licensing, Monitoring and Customer Protection Division is responsible for:

• administering the licensing schemes including granting, renewing, transferring and amending licences for the provision of water, gas and electricity services;
• monitoring licence obligations and reporting to the Minister on the operation of the licensing scheme and on compliance by licensees with their licence conditions;
• enforcing licence obligations and reporting to the Minister on any failure by a licensee to meet performance criteria or other licence requirements; and
• undertaking customer protection activities such as approving standard form contracts, and customer service charters, and developing and reviewing guidelines and codes.

References and Research

The References and Research Division is responsible for:

• managing the ERA’s inquiries and reports functions; and
• undertaking research across the ERA on economic, financial and technical issues; and
• providing specialised services to other divisions such as financial modelling and rate of return analysis.

The business support divisions, and their respective responsibilities, are:

Finance and Administration

The Finance and Administration Division is responsible for undertaking statutory management responsibilities in relation to:

• human resource management services to ensure recruitment, staff management and retention, payroll and performance management;
• administration services to support the Secretariat to ensure delivery of high quality products and services to staff and key stakeholders;
• financial management services to ensure the ERA’s budget, accounts payable, accounts receivable and procurement processes; and
• information management and information technology services.

Planning and Executive Support

The Planning and Executive Support Division is responsible for:

• providing executive support to the Governing Body;
• providing strategic, business planning and corporate communications services to the Governing Body and Secretariat; and
• preparing the ERA’s corporate reports, plans and programs.

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