Under the National Electricity Rules (Rules) the Reliability Panel (Panel) is required to review the template for generator compliance programs. The Panel has published an Issues Paper to commence the review process. The Panel welcomes submissions on the Issues Paper, which are to be submitted by no later than 8 February 2012. View more
The template provides clarity to generators by defining an appropriate compliance framework to assist generators with developing and designing compliance programs to meet the relevant technical requirements. The template also assists the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) with the enforcement and monitoring of generators' compliance with the technical requirements under the Rules. The Rules require that the template be reviewed at least once every three years to provide opportunities for its improvement and to ensure that it remains consistent with the Rules.
In 2006, at the request of the MCE, the AEMC undertook a review of the enforcement of and compliance with technical standards. The AEMC made a number of recommendations, including that the AER should establish a ‘compliance guideline'. Consequently, a Rule change was submitted by the National Generators Forum (NGF) which proposed that the Reliability Panel should be the body to establish the compliance guidelines, and that the guidelines should be reviewed every three years. In the AEMC's determination, it agreed that the Panel should be the party responsible for the compliance guidelines, which was renamed the compliance ‘template' and that it should be regularly reviewed. The Panel carried out a review involving extensive consultation to establish the template, which was completed in July 2009 and the template was implemented at this time.
In November 2011, the Panel received terms of reference from the AEMC to review the template and to complete the review by 31 July 2012. On 21 December 2011, the Panel published an Issues Paper providing some background to the relevant matters and outlining specific questions to facilitate consultation.
Following the completion of the review, the Panel may amend the template in accordance with its recommendations. Generators must modify their compliance programs to be consistent with any amendments made to the template by no later than 6 months after the amendments are published or by a date determined by the Panel.
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