Policy Objectives for the Electricity Commission
1. The Government has amended the Electricity Act 1992 to set the following principal objectives for the Electricity Commission:
- ensure that electricity is produced and delivered to all classes of consumers in an efficient, fair, reliable, and environmentally sustainable manner and
- promote and facilitate the efficient use of electricity.
2. Consistent with those principal objectives, the Commission is required by the Act to seek to achieve the following specific outcomes:
- energy and other resources are used efficiently
- risks (including price risks) relating to security of supply are properly and efficiently managed
- barriers to competition in electricity are minimised for the long-term benefit of end-users
- incentives for investment in generation, transmission, lines, energy efficiency, and demand-side management are maintained or enhanced and do not discriminate between public and private investment
- the full costs of producing and transporting each additional unit of electricity are signalled
- delivered electricity costs and prices are subject to sustained downward pressure
- the electricity sector contributes to achieving the Government's climate change objectives by minimising unnecessary hydro spill, efficiently managing transmission and distribution losses and constraints, promoting demand-side management and energy efficiency, and removing barriers to investment in new generation technologies, renewables and distributed generation.
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