Natural gas network access arrangements

On 19 October 2004 the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) released its final decision on ActewAGL Distribution's Access Arrangement for the ACT, Queanbeyan and Yarrowlumla. The final Access Arrangement was submitted to ICRC on 3 November 2004 and approved by ICRC on 12 November 2004. The Access Arrangement took effect from 1 January 2005.

The Access Arrangement contains a suite of services and prices along with the associated terms and conditions for those services. All of these will form the basis of any Transportation Agreements that ActewAGL Distribution will enter into with Users (generally retailers).

The services

The Access Arrangement includes six Reference Services, one Non-reference Service and a Negotiated Service. These are as follows:

1. Reference services

Capacity reservation service

This transportation service has its charges determined on the basis of capacity reserved (GJ of MDQ). The service includes two options that provide flexibility. These are:

• Summer tranche option — provides the option of reserving an additional tranche of capacity between the months of October and April
• Short term capacity option — provides the option of reserving additional short term capacity under certain special conditions which differ depending on whether the annual consumption at the delivery point is more or less than 30 TJ.

Managed capacity service

This service is similar to the Capacity Reservation Service, but uses the prior year's actual maximum daily withdrawal as the minimum basis for reservation quantity or a higher figure nominated by the user. This service is not subject to overruns on MDQ and provides flexibility for users, particularly where daily demand for delivery point is expected to grow.

Throughput service

Charges for this service are based on annual consumption rather than capacity.

Multiple delivery point service

This service allows Users (either retailers or customers) with multiple delivery points to simplify arrangements with ActewAGL Distribution by entering into a single agreement for transportation covering a number of delivery points for that User.

Tariff service

This service provides for delivery of gas to delivery points with annual consumption less than 10 TJ pa.

Meter data service

This service provides for reading of meters and handling of meter data. The service has been established in conjunction with the introduction of retail contestability.

2. Non-reference services

Interconnection of Embedded Network Service

This is a service to provide for the establishment of a single delivery point from the Network to an embedded network.

3. Negotiated service

This is a transportation service specifically designed to meet needs of users that are not met by the Reference and Non-Reference Services.

Pricing structures

There is a single pricing zone for all customers supplied under the ActewAGL Distribution Access Arrangement, reflecting the relatively small geographical extent of the ACT Queanbeyan Yarrowlumla gas network.

Further information

This information is intended to provide a general outline of the elements contained in ActewAGL Distribution's Access Arrangement (324k — PDF, Acrobat Reader required).

It is not intended to be, nor is it a complete or definitive statement of terms of the Access Arrangement. Copies of the Access Arrangement can also be obtained from the ICRC web site and hard copies are available by contacting Dale Weber, Manager Gas Networks, by phone on 02 6248 3842 or emailing gasnetworks@actewagl.com.au.

Enquiries about access to the distribution system should be made to Fiona Osman, Access and Contracts Manager, Agility Management Pty Ltd (on behalf of ActewAGL Distribution) by phone on 02 8977 6540 or by emailing accesscontractsmanager@actewagl.com.au.

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