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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (6 November) . . Page.. 3758 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

(b) a specified class of persons, some or all of whom use less than 160 megawatt hours of electricity at one site during a year, to be non-franchise customers;

is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 10 of the Subordinate Laws Act 1989.

(4) Section 6 of the Subordinate Laws Act 1989 applies to an order referred to in subsection (3) as if paragraph (1)(b) were omitted.".

I think I have explained the benefit of this amendment. I believe that this reserves to the Assembly the capacity to review any decision by the Minister to extend competition in the retail electricity market to a person or persons who use less than 160 megawatt-hours of electricity by making it disallowable. I think, as I have already argued, that is an appropriate thing. The Labor Party accepts that there are benefits in competition at the higher end. As even the Government acknowledges in its issues paper, these benefits are more arguable at the lower end, the small customer end, of the market. For that reason, we are interested in seeing further debate about that matter before the Government proceeds to that final stage of competition, if that is what the Assembly and the community wish.

As I indicated earlier, other jurisdictions have indicated some hesitation about the timing of the move to extend retail competition to customers below 160 megawatt-hours. Victoria, who are meant to be a part of the same national electricity market as the ACT, have put it off until the year 2001. South Australia have not yet set a time, according to NECA, and Queensland have also set 2001. Even in our own documentation for the ACT, the department has indicated that it is only a possible timetable. Clearly, there needs to be a lot more debate about how this is going to work and what the benefits are going to be. It may be that, as a result of that, there will be some further subdivision of that group of customers consuming less than 160 megawatt-hours per year. That is something we will have to consider as the debate progresses.

Mr Speaker, I am interested in Mr Kaine's statement that he got lots of benefits from this consultation process he conducted on competition in ACT electricity retailing. I would invite him to table the report on that consultation process so that we can all share in the very helpful information he says he got from it. In the meantime, I believe that this amendment reserves to the Assembly what is rightly a major policy decision which ought to be a matter for the Assembly.

Amendment agreed to.

Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

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