Published02 Sep 2002
The Commerce Commission is inviting submissions from interested parties
prior to releasing its final determination on the Electricity Governance
Board's (EGB) authorisation application.
Under section 58 of the Commerce Act, EGB applied to the Commission in
December 2001 for an authorisation of an arrangement that provides the
basis for the trading and delivery of electricity.
Commission Chair John Belgrave said the Commission has considered all
aspects of the EGB application and has reached conclusions on many of
the issues. However, the Commission has now given interested parties
two weeks to provide comment on conditions it may impose on an
authorisation.
Section 61(2) of the Commerce Act 1986 allows the Commission to place
certain conditions on an authorisation and to limit the period of the
In other work within the electricity sector, the Commission will release
its discussion paper reviewing asset valuation methodologies within the
next two months. The Commission has received a number of submissions on
its issues paper (released in March), and has also received feedback on
a draft of the discussion paper following a peer review process. This
work on regulation of electricity lines companies is pursuant to Part 4A
of the Commerce Act 1986.
Background
The Commerce Act 1986, section 61(2): Determination of applications for
authorisation of restrictive trade practices -
(2) Any authorisations granted pursuant to section 58 of
this Act may be granted subject to such conditions not inconsistent with
this Act and for such period as the Commission thinks fit.
The Commerce Act prohibits competitors' agreeing to work together in a
way that reduces competition between them. However, the Act does allow
for authorisation of potentially anti-competitive business practices if
the public benefit is greater than the detriment to competition.
Media contact: Jackie Maitland, Communications Manager
Phone work (04) 924 3708, mobile 029 924 3708