The Commerce Commission has published Draft Guidelines: The Commerce Commission's Approach to Estimating the Cost of Capital on its website.

The Commission intends to issue Guidelines on its framework for estimating the cost of capital, in order to help parties understand its approach. As a first step the Commission is issuing these Draft Guidelines as a means of seeking the views of interested parties on the methodology, and its various elements, that it proposes to use.

The Guidelines are intended to provide the Commission with a consistent framework as a starting point for estimating the cost of capital across the Commission's various regulatory functions. In applying the Guidelines, the Commission will adapt them when necessary to accommodate variations in industry- and firm-specific circumstances.

The Commission invites comments on the Draft Guidelines by Friday, 2 December 2005.

The Draft Guidelines and supplementary appendix can be accessed on the Commission's website by clicking on the attached link.

All comments on the Draft Guidelines should be addressed to:

Dinesh Kumareswaran

Economist, Commerce Commission

PO Box 2351, Wellington

Email: dinesh.kumareswaran@comcom.govt.nz