1. Purpose of this consultation document
1. The Electricity Act 1992 was amended by the Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Act 2008 (the Act). It prohibits the operation of new fossil-fuelled thermal generation above 10 MW that uses more than 20 per cent fossil fuel, unless a specific exemption is obtained.
2. The Act provides for regulations to prescribe processes and parameters for exemptions. Section 62N of the Electricity Act 1992 (as amended by the Act) contains the required regulation-making powers.
3. This paper outlines the proposed design and substance for the regulations, including where applicable, the quantitative values.
1.1 Process
4. Interested parties are invited to make a written submission on the proposals. The Ministry's preference is for comments to be provided in response to specific questions asked in the proposals.
1.2 Note on references
5. The paper makes reference to sections of the Electricity Act 1992. These section references are to sections as amended by the Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Act 2008 (the Act)
1.3 Posting and Release of Submissions
6. The Ministry may post all or parts of any written submission on its website. The Ministry will consider you to have consented this posting by making a submission, unless you clearly specify otherwise in your submission.
7. In any case, content of submissions provided to the Ministry are likely to be subject to public release under the Official Information Act 1982 following requests to the Ministry (including via e-mail). Please advise if you have any objection to the release of any information contained in a submission, and in particular, which part(s) you consider should be withheld, together with the reason(s) for withholding the information. The Ministry will take into account all such objections when responding to requests for copies and information on submissions to this document under the Official Information Act 1982.
Expressing your views
Submissions are due by 5pm, Wednesday 5 November 2008. The Ministry prefers written comments to be provided by email to electricity@med.govt.nz. Otherwise they can be posted to:
Mark Pickup
Senior Policy Analyst, Electricity Group
Energy and Communications Branch
Ministry of Economic Development
PO Box 1473
Wellington
New Zealand
Phone: +64-4-462-4218
Fax: +64-4-473 7010
The Ministry may post all or parts of any written submission on its website. The Ministry will consider you to have consented to posting by making a submission, unless you clearly specify otherwise in your submission.
1.4 Privacy
8. The Privacy Act 1993 establishes certain principles with respect to the collection, use, and disclosure of information about individuals by various agencies including the Ministry. It governs access by individuals to information about themselves held by agencies. Any personal information you supply to the Ministry in the course of making a submission will be used by the Ministry only in conjunction with the matters covered by this document. Please clearly indicate in your submission if you do not wish your name to be included in any summary of submissions that the Ministry may publish.
1.5 Background papers
9. Supporting documents which outline prior Ministry analysis and the Cabinet decisions on the Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill are available on the Ministry of Economic Development website. These papers can be found at Renewables Preference Policy.
10. Papers on the Select Committee's evidence and reports on the Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill can be found on the government website at Select committees [link to Parliament website].
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