✨ Commerce Commission Decision on Buller Electricity
30 SEPTEMBER 2008 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 148 3983
(a) publish its intention to make a declaration and invite interested persons to give their views on the matter; and
(b) give a reasonable opportunity to interested persons to give those views; and
(c) have regard to those views.
Assessment and identification of Buller’s threshold breaches
Buller Electricity Limited (Buller) owns and operates network assets for the provision of electricity distribution services to 4,500 consumers in the Buller Region, just over half of which are in the urban Westport area. It is the smallest of New Zealand’s 28 distribution businesses in terms of number of customers, volume of electricity supplied and value of assets and the second smallest in terms of system length.
The Commission has assessed Buller against the initial thresholds set from 6 June 2003, and has identified Buller as having breached the price path threshold at the first assessment date (6 September 2003) and at the second assessment date (31 March 2004).
The Commission is currently assessing Buller with the other distribution businesses against the 2007/08 price quality thresholds.
Post-Breach Inquiry
On 13 May 2004, the Commission initiated a post-breach inquiry into Buller’s breaches of the price path threshold in September 2003 and March 2004.
Since initiating the post-breach inquiry, Buller has submitted three offers of administrative settlement to the Commission, the last in June 2006. The Commission has considered whether a settlement might provide a satisfactory resolution to the Commission’s initial section 57E concerns.
Decision not to declare control
The Commission has determined not to make a declaration of control under Part 4A in respect of electricity distribution services supplied by Buller, for the following reasons.
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Having evaluated Buller’s recent and planned performance, the Commission considers that the likely outcomes associated with taking no further action are consistent with the purpose in section 57E of the Act;
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A declaration of control in respect of Buller’s electricity distribution services is not necessary to ensure the objectives of the targeted control regime are achieved if no section 57E concerns exist;
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The Commission’s concerns regarding the initial price path breach in 2003 have been resolved, and considers that the primary cause of the 2004 breach was the difference between actual and budgeted transmission charges, which has been appropriately dealt with; and
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Buller has remained within its price path threshold at every assessment year since 2004 to 2006/07 and has not breached its quality threshold during those years.
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NZ Gazette 2008, No 148
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
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Decision Not to Declare Control: Buller Electricity Limited
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🏭 Trade, Customs & IndustryCommerce Act, Control Declaration, Buller Electricity Limited, Electricity Regulation, Thresholds