Boards and Committees

Committees Observed

During the reporting period, the Authority had an observer role on the following committees.

Technical Rules Committee

Under the Electricity Networks Access Code 2004, Western Power is required to submit to the Authority a set of proposed Technical Rules for its network in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) when it submits its proposed access arrangement. Technical Rules consist of the standards, procedures and planning criteria governing the construction and operation of an electricity network.

The Authority is required to assess and, where appropriate, approve the proposed Technical Rules.

A Technical Rules Committee was established by the Authority to provide specialist knowledge and advice to help assess the Technical Rules proposed by Western Power for its network in the SWIS.

The Technical Rules Committee is chaired by a representative of the Coordinator of Energy and its membership includes representatives of:

Western Power;
each service provider of a network interconnected with Western Power’s network in the SWIS; and
users of Western Power’s network in the SWIS.

The Authority has appointed a representative to observe the operation of the Technical Rules Committee. However, the Authority’s representative is not able to participate in any decision making process of the Technical Rules Committee.

Electricity Code of Conduct Consultative Committee

From 1 January 2005, under Part 6 of the Electricity Industry Act 2004, the Authority is required to convene the Code of Conduct Consultative Committee, which is to advise the Authority on matters relating to the Code of Conduct for the Supply of Electricity to Small Use Customers. The code regulates and controls the conduct of retailers, distributors and electricity marketing agents.

Transitional Market Advisory Committee/ Market Readiness Committee

The Transitional Market Advisory Committee (TMAC) was an informal forerunner of the Market Advisory Committee, which was to be established on 1 July 2006 under section 2.3 of the Wholesale Electricity Market Rules, made under the Electricity Industry (Wholesale Electricity Market) Regulations 2004. The Authority by virtue of its Wholesale Electricity Market role, was invited as an observer on this Committee.

TMAC was a committee of industry representatives convened by the Independent Market Operator (IMO), the independent statutory corporation tasked with the administration and operation of the Western Australian Wholesale Electricity Market. The Committee’s functions are to advise the IMO on:

market rule change proposals; and
market operations and SWIS operation matters.

TMAC was also responsible for advising the IMO and Western Power’s System Management on procedure change proposals.

In August 2005, TMAC was discontinued and replaced by the Market Readiness Committee which was established to work on the next phase in the implementation of the Wholesale Electricity Market. The Market Readiness Committee has the following functions:

managing and overseeing the development of market procedures;
reviewing various documents necessary for the effective implementation of IMO market systems;
providing data and setting up tests for market trials;
designing the market trials and assisting with their execution; and
assisting market participants during the testing phases of the project.

Retail Energy Market Company (REMCo) Rule Change Committee

REMCo is the Retail Market Administrator for the contestable gas retail markets of Western Australia and South Australia and is governed by a Board of Directors. The Authority as administrator of the retail market scheme was invited on this Committee as an observer.

The Rule Change Committee is operated by REMCo to help it further develop the Retail Market Rules governing the operation of the retail gas markets. The Authority is responsible for approving proposed changes to the market rules and was invited to attend as an observer on the Rule Change Committee.

As part of this role, the Authority is an observer on the Balancing, Load, Allocation and Settlement Team which has broad membership across gas market participants, pipeline operators, and prescribed persons in both Western Australia and South Australia. It deals with the technical issues related to balancing, load allocation and settlement and, where necessary, develops rule changes for the Rule Change Committee to consider.