Tasmanian Electricity Supply Bill Receives Assent
Friday 7 December 2018 @ 2.59 p.m. | Legal Research
After having been introduced to Tasmania Parliament’s House of Assembly on 22 May 2018 by the Hon Peter Gutwein MP, the Electricity Supply Industry Amendment (Price Cap) Bill 2018 (Tas) passed Tasmania’s Legislative Council on 1 November 2018 and was enacted as the Electricity Supply Industry Amendment (Price Cap) Act 2018 (Act 24 of 2018) on 16 November 2018, commencing on the same day.
The Act amends the following Tasmanian legislation:
- Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995; and
- Electricity Supply Industry Amendment (Pricing) Act 2017.
Background
The purpose of the legislation is to amend the Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995 to cap the annual increase in regulated electricity prices at the rate of change in the Hobart Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) for three years from 2018-19.
The legislation provides that the Tasmanian Economic Regulator must not approve standing offer prices submitted to it by a regulated offer retailer for an applicable financial year “if those prices are higher than the tariffs for the previous financial year indexed by the change in the Hobart CPI for the applicable year”.
Overview of the Amendments
According to the Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum (“EM”):
Comment on the Legislation
In his Second Reading Speech, Minister Gutwein commented:
The Independent Member for Murchison, Ruth Forrest MLC said:
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Sources:
Electricity Supply Industry Amendment (Price Cap) Bill 2018 (Tas) - Bill and supporting information available from TimeBase LawOne Service.