Governance of the gas market

We monitor and oversee the co-regulation governance of the gas market, from a government perspective.

This co-regulatory model was introduced in December 2004 and was based around the formation of the industry body, the Gas Industry Comapny (GIC).

The GIC makes recommendations to the Minister of Energy and Resources to meet the Government's objectives for the gas sector, as set out in the Government Policy Statement on Gas Governance 2008.

Recommendations made by the GIC cover:

• The operation and governance of gas markets
• Access to infrastructure
• Consumer outcomes.

Government Policy Statement of Gas Governance 2008

Rules and regulations to govern the gas market

Gas (Information Disclosure) Regulations 1997

Owners of gas pipelines are required to disclose certain prescribed financial and other information annually.

Read the full regulations
 

Gas (Downstream Reconciliation) Rules 2008

These rules establish a set of uniform processes to enable the fair, efficient, and reliable allocation and reconciliation of downstream gas quantities.

The rules took effect from 2 October 2009, and allow for an allocation agent to:

• Gather information about gas injection and consumption
• Allocate daily gas quantities to retailers at gas gates
• Reconcile downstream gas quantities.

Download the full rules [271 kB PDF]
 

Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008

These rules enable consumers to efficiently switch between competing retailers.  The rules were recommended by the Gas Industry Company and took effect on 10 February 2011.

A central gas register was set up so consumer information could be exchanged between retailers.

Download the full rules [472 kB PDF]
 

Gas Governance (Compliance) Regulations 2008

These regulations allow the following rules and regulations to be monitored and enforced.

• Gas (Switching Arrangements) Rules 2008
• Gas (Processing Facilities Information Disclosure) Rules 2008
• Gas (Downstream Reconciliation) Rules 2008
• Gas Governance (Critical Contingency Management) Regulations 2008.

Read the full regulations
 

Gas Governance (Critical Contingency Management) Regulations 2008

These allow for plans to be made in case of gas outages.  A critical contingency operator, expert adviser, and industry expert can be appointed to prepare for such an event.

The regulations also set out the obligations of certain parties before, during and after a critical event.

Read the full regulations
 

Gas (Processing Facilities Information Disclosure) Rules 2008

These rules allow for information to be publicly available about gas processing facilities' capability and capacity.

This information is also provided to the Minister of Energy to help develop rules or regulations.

Download the full rules [46 kB PDF]
 

Gas (Levy of Industry Participants) Regulations 2011

These regulations allow the Gas Industry Company to collect levies from the gas industry to fund its work.

Read more about the gas industry levy

Read the regulatory impact statement about these regulations [151 kB PDF]