New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
(1) The objective of this section is to enable the making of regulations to ensure that gas providers offer a low fixed charge tariff option or options for delivered gas to domestic consumers that will assist low-use consumers and encourage energy conservation.
(2) In this section,—
delivered gas includes components like gas supply, line function services, customer service, meter provision, and meter reading services
fixed charge means a charge levied for each customer connection in currency per time period (for example, cents per day)
gas provider means a gas retailer or other business that contracts with consumers to sell delivered gas or a component of delivered gas.
(3) The Governor-General may, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister in accordance with sections 43I to 43P, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:
(a) requiring gas providers to make available to domestic consumers 1 or more tariff options that include a fixed charge for delivered gas to dwellinghouses at not more than a specified amount:
(b) regulating the variable (cents per kilowatt hour) charges in those required tariff options to ensure that low-use domestic consumers would pay a lower total charge on the required tariff option than on any similar alternative tariff option available from that gas provider:
(c) regulating other charges and other terms and conditions of the contracts to which the low fixed charge tariff options in paragraph (a) relate, to ensure that they are not, in the opinion of the Minister, unreasonably detrimental to the interests of low-use consumers:
(d) setting rules as to the offering, supply, advertisement, promotion, availability, and unbundling of regulated charging options:
(e) specifying criteria for the Minister to exempt gas providers, or gas providers in relation to particular areas, from the application of the regulations if, in the opinion of the Minister, the gas providers materially comply with the objective of this section.
(4) No gas provider that is a customer trust or a community trust may pay a domestic consumer who is on the required tariff option a different rebate only because the consumer is on the required tariff option.
(5) Each trustee of a gas provider that contravenes subsection (4) commits an offence, and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000.
(6) If the components that make up the delivered gas are unbundled, regulations may be made under subsection (3) for each component, or group of components, of delivered gas to ensure that the objective of this section is achieved for the aggregate of all the components.
(7) Subsection (6) applies regardless of whether different components of delivered gas are supplied by the same gas provider.
(8) Regulations made under subsection (3) may provide for the way in which the total charge of the low-use domestic consumer is to be assessed, which may be (without limitation) calculated with reference to national data or the data relating to any gas retailer or gas distributor.
(9) The Governor-General may, for the purpose of assisting retailers to deliver low fixed charge tariff options, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister in accordance with sections 43I to 43P, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:
(a) regulating all or any charges charged by gas distributors to ensure that they are not, in the opinion of the Minister, unreasonably detrimental to the interests of low-use consumers:
(b) regulating the terms and conditions under which gas distributors supply their services in relation to domestic consumers to ensure that they are not, in the opinion of the Minister, unreasonably detrimental to the interests of low-use consumers:
(c) setting rules as to the offering, availability, supply, and unbundling of gas distributors' services:
(d) regulating the charging, offering, supply, and availability of delivered gas by other gas providers.
(10) The Governor-General may, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister in accordance with sections 43I to 43P, make regulations providing for the supply and collection of information from gas providers and gas distributors—
(a) about contracts, offers, advertising, or promotion relating to the supply of delivered gas, or components of delivered gas, to domestic consumers; or
(b) information that is necessary for the purposes of calculating the total charge for the low-use domestic consumer.
Subparts 1, 2, and 4 of Part 4A (comprising sections 43A to 43ZZF, and section 43ZZR) were inserted, as from 18 October 2004, by section 5 Gas Amendment Act 2004 (2004 No 83).