1. This notice of a recommendation and assessment concerning the Electricity Governance (Instantaneous Reserve Dispatch) Amendment Rules (No 2) 2010 is issued by the Electricity Commission ("Commission") pursuant to section 172E(3)(a)(iii) of the Electricity Act 1992 ("Act").
2. The Act provides that, no later than 10 working days after making a recommendation to the Minister of Energy and Resources ("Minister") concerning an earlier urgent amendment to the Electricity Governance Rules 2003 ("Rules"), the Commission must publicise the recommendation and the assessment completed under section 172F of the Act.
Recommendation to Amend Rule Amendments Previously Made Under Urgency
3. On 18 February 2010, the Minister amended rules in
Part A, Schedule C6 of Part C, Section V of Part G,
and Schedule G2 of Part G of the Rules under urgency. The urgent rule amendments related to the scheduling and dispatch of instantaneous reserve including the introduction of constrained on payments to instantaneous reserve providers.
4. Section 172E(3) of the Act provides that the Commission was not required to comply with section 172E(2)(b) and section 172F (relating to consultation and assessment) as it was considered necessary or desirable in the public interest for the rule amendments to have been made urgently. Instead, consultation and the assessment must have been carried out within six months of the amendments being made. These processes have now been completed and the results support the original proposal, but the Commission now proposes minor drafting amendments to the Rules previously amended under urgency.
5. In accordance with section 172E(3)(a) of the Act,
on 7 July 2010 the Commission recommended to the Minister that the rule amendments be amended.
6. The recommended amendments are as follows:
(a) Amend the definition of "availability cost" in Part A of the Rules to format the whole term "constrained on compensation" as bold text signalling that it is a defined term in the Rules;
(b) amend the definition of "Qcon" in Rule 5.3.1A of Section V of Part G of the Rules to specify that
the units, in which the dispatched quantity of instantaneous reserve is measured, are megawatts rather than megawatt-hours and to change the term "offer" to "reserve offer" to reflect the correct terminology; and
(c) amend the definitions of "COCg" and "COCso" in Rule 6.5 of Section V of Part G of the Rules to remove references to ancillary service agents
(since Rule 6.5 deals only with the funding of constrained on amounts to generators for active power) and to clarify the definition of "COCso"
by referring to "the sum of constrained on compensation ... payable ... to generators" rather
than to "any constrained on amount ... payable ... to that generator".
7. A copy of the Commission’s recommendation and assessment is available, at no cost, on the Commission’s website
http://www.electricitycommission.govt.nz/rulesand
regs/recommend
Dated at Wellington this 7th day of July 2010.
For and on behalf of the Electricity Commission:
DAVID CAYGILL, Chair.