In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,—

The industry body may, by agreement with a person who the industry body is satisfied is able to fulfil the obligations under these regulations, appoint that person to act as the critical contingency operator.

The critical contingency operator has the obligations set out in these regulations.

The industry body may at any time terminate, or change the appointment of, or reappoint, any person as the critical contingency operator, subject to the terms of the critical contingency operator service provider agreement.

The remuneration of the critical contingency operator is as agreed between the industry body and the critical contingency operator in the critical contingency operator service provider agreement.

The industry body and the critical contingency operator may agree on any other terms and conditions not inconsistent with the obligations of the critical contingency operator under these regulations.

There must be a service provider agreement between the industry body and the critical contingency operator.

The service provider agreement must provide for—

The industry body must publish the critical contingency operator service provider agreement.

The critical contingency operator must maintain a critical contingency Internet site for the purpose of providing a central repository for publicly available information relevant to a critical contingency.

The critical contingency Internet site must be able to perform the functions required of the Internet site by these regulations, and be accessible to the public.

The critical contingency operator must take reasonable steps to ensure the information on the critical contingency Internet site is accurate and up to date.

The critical contingency operator must publish on the critical contingency Internet site all information provided to it by the industry body for the purposes of publication by the industry body.

For the purposes of these regulations, the information referred to in subclause (4) is deemed to be published by the industry body.

No later than 5 business days after the commencement date, each transmission system owner must provide the industry body with the information specified in Schedule 4.

As soon as practicable after receiving the information described in subclause (1), the industry body must consult with all transmission system owners on a draft map depicting the transmission system.

As soon as practicable after that consultation and no later than the go-live date, the industry body must publish a map depicting the transmission system.

A transmission system owner must give notice to the industry body of any error or change in the boundaries of, and pipelines comprising, the transmission system as soon as practicable after becoming aware of the error or change.

The industry body may amend or update the boundaries of, and pipelines comprising, the transmission system in response to any notice given by a transmission system owner under subclause (4) and, where applicable, must publish an updated map depicting the transmission system.

On the appointment of a critical contingency operator, the industry body must set performance standards against which the critical contingency operator’s performance is to be reported and measured.

Before setting any performance standards under subclause (1), the industry body must consult with the critical contingency operator.

Following the completion of any review carried out by the industry body under regulation 12, the industry body may revoke, amend, or add to any performance standards set under this regulation.

The industry body must, on an annual basis, review the manner in which the critical contingency operator has performed its obligations under these regulations in the preceding 12 months.

The review must concentrate on the critical contingency operator’s—

MPOC, VTC, and any other transmission system code must be read subject to these regulations.

If both a transmission system code and these regulations impose an obligation or liability in respect of the same matter, the obligation or liability in these regulations prevails to the extent that the obligation or liability in the code is inconsistent with these regulations.

A person is not required to comply with these regulations where that compliance prevents that person from complying with the requirements of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002.

The ongoing fees are monthly fees to meet the critical contingency ongoing costs.

The critical contingency ongoing costs are—

Every person who purchases gas directly from a gas producer during a month is liable to pay ongoing fees for that month in accordance with these regulations.

In this regulation and regulations 18 and 19, year means a financial year unless the context otherwise requires.

The estimated ongoing fees are payable to the industry body.

Every person to whom regulation 17(3) applies must supply to the industry body a return no later than the tenth day of each month, unless otherwise agreed by the industry body. The return must state—

As soon as practicable after the publication of those estimated critical contingency ongoing costs, the industry body must notify every person to whom regulation 17(3) applies of the estimated critical contingency ongoing costs, and that ongoing fees will be payable by that person in that year or part year in accordance with the following formula:

For each year following the first year or part year of operation, the industry body must—

On the first business day of each month following the notification in subclause (5), the industry body must invoice every person to whom regulation 17(3) applies for that person’s share of the estimated critical contingency ongoing costs payable during that month, calculated in accordance with the formula in subclause (5).

The actual ongoing fees are payable to the industry body.

As soon as practicable after the end of each year of operation, the industry body must determine and publish on its Internet site, and on the critical contingency Internet site, a breakdown of the actual critical contingency ongoing costs for that year.

No less than 10 business days after publication of those actual critical contingency ongoing costs, the industry body must invoice, or issue a credit note, to each person to whom regulation 17(3) applies for the difference between—

The due date for the payment of any invoice or refund of any credit is—

The fees payable under regulations 17 to 19 are exclusive of any goods and services tax payable under the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985, and goods and service tax on those fees (if any) will be added to the invoices or credit notes issued under regulations 18(7) and 19(3).

The industry body must ensure that all information and returns that are supplied under regulations 17 to 19 are used only for the purposes of collecting the ongoing fees.

The returns supplied to the industry body under regulation 7 of the Gas (Levy of Industry Participants) Regulations 2008 (or, where applicable, any replacement levy regulations) are sufficient to fulfil the requirements of regulation 18(3) if the person who supplied the returns consents to the returns being used for this purpose.

If these regulations require any notice to be given, the notice must be in writing and be—

This regulation also applies to the confirmation of urgent notices under regulation 23(3).

In the absence of proof to the contrary, notices are taken to be given,—

This regulation also applies to the confirmation of urgent notices under regulation 23(3).

In relation to a critical contingency, these regulations provide for urgent notices to be given in certain circumstances.

Despite regulations 21 and 22, an urgent notice may be given orally where the person issuing a notice considers that the urgency of the situation means the notice should not be given in writing.

If an urgent notice is given orally under subclause (2), the person who gave that notice must, as soon as practicable, confirm that urgent notice in writing in accordance with regulations 21 and 22.

No later than 50 business days after the commencement date, each transmission system owner must prepare a proposed critical contingency management plan for its part of the transmission system and submit it to the industry body for approval.

A proposed critical contingency management plan must be consistent with these regulations and must provide for the following:

A proposed critical contingency management plan must be consistent with MPOC, VTC, or any other transmission system code except to the extent necessary to comply with these regulations.

Before submitting the proposed critical contingency management plan to the industry body for approval, a transmission system owner must—

For each proposed critical contingency management plan, and for each proposed amendment to a critical contingency management plan submitted under regulation 33(4)(c), 34(6)(c), or 65(3)(c), the industry body must appoint an expert adviser to review the proposed plan or amendment,—

As soon as practicable following receipt of a proposed critical contingency management plan under regulation 24 or a proposed amendment under regulation 33(4)(c), 34(6)(c), or 65(3)(c), the industry body must provide the proposed plan or proposed amendment to the expert adviser and the critical contingency operator.

In reviewing the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment under regulation 29, the expert adviser must consult with the critical contingency operator.

The critical contingency operator may provide the expert adviser with a report on the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment in relation to any issues it perceives as material to the review by the expert adviser under regulation 29.

Any report prepared by the critical contingency operator under subclause (3) must be submitted to the expert adviser no later than 10 business days after the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment was received from the industry body.

The expert adviser must review—

In reviewing the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment, the expert adviser—

Following the review, and no later than 20 business days after receiving the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment, the expert adviser must—

If the expert adviser considers that the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment complies with regulation 25 and gives effect to the purpose of these regulations, the expert adviser must make a recommendation that the industry body should approve the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment.

If the expert adviser gives notice under subclause (3)(b) that it has recommended that the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment should not be approved by the industry body, then, no later than 10 business days after receiving that notice, the relevant transmission system owner—

Regulations 27 to 30 apply to a proposed plan or proposed amendment resubmitted for approval under subclause (5).

The industry body must publish a proposed plan or proposed amendment resubmitted for approval under subclause (5).

No later than 5 business days after receiving a recommendation to approve under regulation 29(3), the industry body must—

The industry body must approve the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment if—

If the industry body gives notice under subclause (1)(b) that it has declined to approve the proposed critical contingency management plan or proposed amendment, the relevant transmission system owner, no later than 10 business days after receiving that notice,—

Regulations 27 to 30 apply to a proposed plan or proposed amendment resubmitted for approval under subclause (3).

The industry body must publish a proposed plan or proposed amendment resubmitted for approval under subclause (3).

This regulation only applies if a proposed critical contingency management plan submitted under regulation 24, 29(5)(a), or 30(3)(a) has not been approved by the industry body under regulation 30 within 6 months of the commencement date.

To avoid doubt, this regulation does not apply to any proposed amendment to a critical contingency management plan.

The industry body may itself amend the proposed critical contingency plan, if the industry body considers that the amendments are—

If the industry body amends the proposed critical contingency management plan under subclause (3), the industry body must give notice to the relevant transmission system owner and the critical contingency operator of the amendments and the reasons for the amendments.

On the fifth business day after giving notice under subclause (4), the industry body must determine whether or not to approve the proposed critical contingency management plan as amended under subclause (3).

As soon as practicable after the industry body has approved a critical contingency management plan, the critical contingency operator must publish the plan (subject to subclause (4)).

If a transmission system operator has given notice that certain information in a proposed critical contingency management plan or a proposed amendment is confidential or commercially sensitive, the industry body must determine whether that information is to be published by the critical contingency operator.

The industry body must advise the critical contingency operator of its determination under subclause (3) when giving notice of its approval of the plan or amendment under regulation 30(1), and the critical contingency operator must comply with that determination.

Each transmission system owner must ensure that the contact details included in its critical contingency management plan in accordance with regulation 25 are current.

If a transmission system owner amends its critical contingency management plan to comply with subclause (1), subclauses (2) to (5) do not apply in respect of that amendment.

Each transmission system owner must review its critical contingency management plan to determine whether it complies with regulation 25, and whether it is able to give effect to the purpose of these regulations,—

Within 10 business days after a completing a review under subclause (2), the transmission system owner must notify the critical contingency operator and the industry body—

If a transmission system owner considers that a critical contingency management plan does not adequately comply with regulation 25 or give effect to the purpose of these regulations, the transmission system owner must—

When the industry body approves an amended plan under regulation 30,—

The critical contingency operator must, after consultation with transmission system owners, instigate exercises to test that—

Transmission system owners, and any interconnected parties, shippers, retailers, gas distributors, and large consumers reasonably requested by the critical contingency operator, must participate in tests instigated under subclause (1).

To avoid doubt, participation in a civil defence emergency management training exercise that tests the matters set out in subclause (1) is considered to be an exercise for the purposes of this regulation.

An exercise must be instigated by the critical contingency operator at least once every 12 months, except if there has been a critical contingency within that 12-month period and the report produced in accordance with regulation 65 confirms that the critical contingency management plans meet the test criteria in subclause (1).

Within 10 business days of completing an exercise under subclause (1), each transmission system owner must provide a report to the critical contingency operator that—

Following the provision of the report provided under subclause (5), a transmission system owner may—

Within 10 business days of receiving a report provided under subclause (5), the critical contingency operator must provide a report to the industry body that—

The critical contingency operator must maintain a published communications plan prepared in consultation with transmission system owners.

The communications plan will govern the communications between the critical contingency operator and the transmission system owners during a critical contingency.

The communications plan must apply to communications from the critical contingency operator to the transmission system owners, and from the transmission system owners to the critical contingency operator, relating to—

The critical contingency operator may, after consultation with transmission system owners, amend and publish a revised communications plan.

The critical contingency operator must maintain a published information guide that explains the communication flows between the critical contingency operator and the following parties during a critical contingency:

Before publishing the information guide, the critical contingency operator must—

The consultation process, including consideration of submissions, must be completed within 60 business days of the commencement date.

If submissions made on the information guide are also relevant to the critical contingency management plans or communications plan, the critical contingency operator may consider those submissions in the preparation of any report on a critical contingency management plan under regulation 28(3) or in the preparation of the communications plan as applicable.

The critical contingency operator may, after consulting on any proposed amendments in accordance with subclause (1)(a), amend and publish a revised information guide.

Each transmission system owner must ensure that the following information in relation to its parts of the transmission system is made available to the critical contingency operator, whether via OATIS or otherwise:

Each transmission system owner must, on terms and within time frames acceptable to the critical contingency operator,—

If the critical contingency operator reasonably considers that it requires access to real-time SCADA data, each transmission system owner must provide to the critical contingency operator remote, real-time, and read-only access to the transmission system owner’s SCADA system.

The information described in this regulation—

A reference in this regulation to information, data, or a model, in relation to a transmission system owner, includes information, data, or a model held or controlled by a third party contracted to the transmission system owner.

The critical contingency operator may ask gas producers, transmission system owners, and large consumers for information relating to the operation of wholesale markets for gas, including arrangements relating to outages and other security of supply contingencies.

Each gas producer, transmission system owner, and large consumer must provide, in response to any reasonable request made by the critical contingency operator under subclause (1), information on the actual and expected timing and duration of scheduled maintenance and any other actual or expected plant outages.

Each retailer must, as required by subclause (2), provide a notice to the critical contingency operator setting out, for each gas gate at which the retailer trades and in relation to that retailer,—

A retailer must comply with subclause (1)—

If the retailer does not possess, or cannot reasonably obtain, a consumer’s or domestic consumer’s actual total annual consumption, the retailer may provide its best estimate of that consumer’s or domestic consumer’s total annual consumption as part of the aggregate total annual consumption required by subclause (1).

To avoid doubt, for the purposes of this regulation, a gas gate does not include a point of connection between a distribution system and a gas measurement system downstream of that distribution system.

Each large consumer must, as required by subclause (2), provide a notice to the critical contingency operator setting out, for the consumer installation, the total annual consumption, maximum daily consumption, curtailment band, and any critical processing designation.

A large consumer must comply with subclause (1)—

Where the consumer installation’s daily gas consumption is subject to significant variation throughout a year, the large consumer must notify the critical contingency operator of that fact and the critical contingency operator may ask the large consumer to also supply—

Whenever a large consumer becomes aware that information it has provided under this regulation is materially incorrect, the large consumer must provide corrected information to the critical contingency operator within 6 weeks.

The critical contingency operator may, to assist with more detailed load modelling, request from an allocation agent consumption data that the allocation agent holds under the Gas (Downstream Reconciliation) Rules 2008.

A request must specify the gas gates and the consumption months for which data is sought.

The allocation agent must provide the data—

The critical contingency operator must keep a record of information provided to it by retailers, large consumers, and the allocation agent under regulations 39 to 40A.

The information must be used by the critical contingency operator only for the purpose of performing its obligations under these regulations.

If the critical contingency operator considers that any of the information provided by a retailer, a large consumer, or the allocation agent is materially incorrect, the critical contingency operator must, as soon as is reasonably practicable,—

If the critical contingency operator notifies the industry body under regulation 41 that information provided by a retailer, a large consumer, or the allocation agent is materially incorrect, the industry body must notify that person that it has 10 business days to correct its information and provide the updated information to the critical contingency operator.

If the critical contingency operator considers that the updated information is materially incorrect, or if the retailer, large consumer, or allocation agent does not provide the updated information within 10 business days, the critical contingency operator must, as soon as is reasonably practicable, give notice of that fact to the industry body.

Within 5 business days of being notified under subclause (2), the industry body must notify the retailer, large consumer, or allocation agent that the industry body intends to conduct an audit of that person.

The purpose of the audit is to determine whether information provided to the critical contingency operator is materially incorrect.

The audit must be conducted in accordance with regulation 83.

Each retailer must prepare a retailer curtailment plan (the plan) in accordance with subclauses (2) to (4).

For every retailer, the plan must contain the following information:

If the retailer has consumers, the plan must also contain the following information:

If the retailer has domestic consumers, the plan must also contain the following information:

The retailer must provide the plan to the industry body, together with a certificate in the form set out in Schedule 6 signed by a person who, in relation to the retailer, is a director or occupies a position equivalent to that of a director of a body corporate.

A retailer must keep its plan up to date and, if it makes any material change, subclause (5) applies to the updated plan.

A responsible retailer must notify its consumers and the industry body must notify large consumers, as required by subclause (2),—

A responsible retailer and the industry body must—

The transmission system owner must—

A regional critical contingency is a critical contingency characterised by—

The industry body must prepare and publish guidelines to assist the critical contingency operator in determining whether a critical contingency is a regional critical contingency.

Prior to publishing those guidelines, the industry body must—

The industry body may prepare and publish revised guidelines after following the process set out in subclause (3).

The purpose of a designation is to modify the curtailment arrangements as they apply to a consumer installation that needs to continue using gas in a critical contingency in order to—

A consumer may apply for a critical care designation for a consumer installation at which 1 or more of the following services (critical care) is provided:

The industry body must approve a critical care designation only if the industry body is satisfied that it would be inhumane or unsafe for the critical care not to be provided at the consumer installation.

A consumer may apply for an essential services designation for a consumer installation at which 1 or more of the following services (essential services) are provided:

The industry body must approve an essential services designation only if the industry body is satisfied that the annual gas consumption for providing the essential services at the consumer installation—

A consumer may apply for a critical processing designation for a consumer installation at which either of the following processes (critical processing) is performed:

The industry body must approve a critical processing designation only if all of the following criteria are met:

A consumer may apply for an electricity supply designation if the consumer requires a specified amount of gas for a specified period of time during a critical contingency in order to—

The industry body must approve an electricity supply designation only if—

If a consumer wants a designation for a consumer installation, the consumer must apply to the industry body in accordance with regulation 46F, having regard to any guidance provided by the industry body in relation to the application process.

A responsible retailer must provide to a consumer all reasonable assistance that the consumer requests for the purpose of preparing its application, including checking the application for completeness.

The industry body must, within the time frame specified in subclause (4) or (5) (as applicable),—

If the industry body receives the application on or after 2 December 2014, the industry body must comply with subclause (3) within 10 business days after the later of—

If the industry body receives the application before the close of 1 December 2014,—

If the industry body identifies that an application is incomplete, or that further information is required to process an application, the industry body must—

If only part of a consumer installation meets the criteria for a designation,—

Every application for a designation must include the following information:

If the application is for a critical processing designation, the application must also contain the following information (which the industry body will, if it approves the designation, use to determine a shutdown profile for the designated consumer installation under regulation 46J):

If the application is for an electricity supply designation, the application must also contain the following information:

The industry body must use information provided in an application for a designation only for the purposes of, or as required by, these regulations.

The industry body—

When appointing a technical expert, the industry body must follow the process set out in Schedule 7.

The role of the technical expert is to provide the industry body and the applicant with an independent and confidential report on the merits of the application.

The technical expert must provide a draft of its report to the applicant and the industry body.

The applicant and the industry body have 5 business days from the date on which they receive the draft of the report to—

Before the technical expert prepares a final report on the merits of the application, the technical expert must take into account any comments received on the draft report.

The applicant must pay to the industry body the costs of the technical expert in preparing the report (less the amount of the fee estimate prepaid by the applicant—see Schedule 7, step 7).

If the costs of the technical expert in preparing the report are less than the amount of the fee estimate prepaid by the applicant, the industry body must refund the difference to the applicant.

The technical expert may—

Any request under subclause (1) must be reasonable and strictly for the purpose of preparing the report required by regulation 46H.

An applicant, the current and previous responsible retailer for the consumer installation to which the application relates, the allocation agent, and the critical contingency operator must comply with any request made under subclause (1), but nothing in this regulation limits any claim for legal professional privilege.

A technical expert must use any information obtained in performing the technical expert’s role only for the purpose of assisting the industry body to assess the merits of the particular application, and must otherwise keep that information confidential.

Within 10 business days of the industry body notifying a consumer that it has approved a critical processing designation, the industry body must, after consulting the consumer, determine the shutdown profile for the designated consumer installation.

The determination must be in writing.

The shutdown profile, which must be consistent with regulation 46C(2)(d)(i) to (iii), must specify—

If the industry body approves a designation, the designation is effective only after—

On receiving the signed declaration, the industry body must give notice of the approved designation to—

A responsible distributor must, within 5 business days after being notified under subclause (2), update the load shedding category information in the registry for the designated consumer installation.

The declaration form referred to in regulation 46K(1) must contain 1 or more of the following statements:

The declaration form referred to in regulation 46K(1) must also contain a statement that the information provided by the consumer in its application is materially correct.

As soon as practicable after a consumer with a designation becomes aware that information provided in the consumer’s application for the designation is no longer accurate, the consumer must notify the industry body of that fact.

If the industry body reasonably considers that a consumer with a designation no longer meets the criteria for a designation, the industry body must notify the consumer—

If the consumer fails to reapply for the designation within 20 business days after being notified under subclause (2), the designation is revoked on the expiry of that period.

If the consumer reapplies for the designation within 20 business days after being notified under subclause (2), the designation is revoked if the designation is declined and the revocation is effective when the consumer is notified of that decision.

Each designation approved under this Part expires 2 years after it was approved, but a consumer may reapply for the designation in accordance with this regulation.

If any of the information supplied in the consumer’s most recent application under regulation 46E has materially changed, or if the initial application was made more than 10 years ago, the consumer must reapply following the process outlined in regulation 46E.

If the information referred to in subclause (2) has not materially changed, the consumer may reapply following the process set out in regulation 46E, except that—

As soon as practicable after 1 December 2014, the industry body must publish a list of designations.

The list must include the following information for each designation:

The industry body must maintain the list published under subclause (1).

The critical contingency operator must make a determination that there is a critical contingency if—

When determining whether a breach of a threshold has occurred or is otherwise unavoidable, the critical contingency operator must assume that any occurring reduction in pressure in the relevant part of the transmission system will continue at a constant rate, unless the critical contingency operator has reasonable grounds for considering, based on the best available information, that a non-constant rate of reduction will provide a significantly more accurate basis for its determination.

If the critical contingency operator determines that there is a critical contingency under regulation 48, the critical contingency operator must declare a critical contingency.

Without limiting the powers of the critical contingency operator under these regulations to declare a critical contingency, the critical contingency operator must, as soon as possible after determining a critical contingency, give urgent notice to all transmission system owners—

If the critical contingency operator declares a critical contingency, the critical contingency operator must issue directions to transmission system owners that, having regard to the nature of the critical contingency, are—

To avoid doubt, subclause (1) does not prevent the critical contingency operator issuing directions in relation to matters outside the scope of a critical contingency management plan if the critical contingency operator considers those directions are necessary to—

As soon as possible after declaring a critical contingency, the critical contingency operator must give urgent notice to the following persons that a critical contingency has been declared:

The critical contingency operator must also advise a person, by electronic transmission or any other similar method of electronic communication, of the critical contingency declaration if—

The critical contingency operator must, as soon as is reasonably practicable after declaring a critical contingency,—

As soon as possible after determining a critical contingency, the critical contingency operator must determine, having regard to the guidelines published by the industry body under regulation 45, whether the critical contingency is a regional critical contingency as defined in regulation 45(1).

On making a determination under subclause (1), the critical contingency operator must publish one of the following:

For the purpose of regulation 75(b)(ii), a declaration made under subclause (2) is not a revision to the status of a critical contingency.

For the duration of a critical contingency, the critical contingency operator must—

To avoid doubt, the critical contingency operator may direct curtailment of a subset of load within a curtailment band (if it is satisfied that the direction would further the objectives set out in Schedule 2), including—

If the critical contingency operator determines that there is a critical contingency under regulation 48, each transmission system owner must—

The purpose of this regulation is to ensure that transmission system owners, retailers, and consumers are informed about the cause of any critical contingency.

Subclause (3) applies if a component of the gas supply chain is damaged or fails, and that damage or failure—

The owner of the damaged or failed component must publish information as required by clause 2 of Schedule 5.

Retailers and large consumers must, as soon as possible, comply with the directions of a transmission system owner given under these regulations during a critical contingency.

Retailers and large consumers must provide a transmission system owner with regular updates of—

The transmission system owner must forward to the critical contingency operator, when required to do so by the critical contingency operator, any information provided to the transmission system owner under subclause (2).

As soon as possible after receiving a direction from a transmission system owner under regulation 55(1), retailers must give urgent notice to their consumers affected by that direction—

The urgent notice given under subclause (1)(a) must include statements as follows:

Retailers must provide a transmission system owner with regular updates, at intervals determined by the transmission system owner and communicated by the transmission system owner to retailers, of—

Consumers must comply with the directions issued by their retailer under regulation 56 as soon as possible after the directions are given.

A consumer may apply for an essential services designation or a critical care designation during a critical contingency event only if—

Until the consumer receives notification from the industry body that an emergency designation has been approved, the consumer installation must stop using gas in accordance with the retailer’s curtailment instructions.

The application process is as set out in regulation 46E with the following modifications:

A designation approved under this regulation—

Gas distributors must not act in a manner that is inconsistent with, or would frustrate, these regulations or any directions issued under these regulations.

If a critical contingency has not been terminated under regulation 60 within 3 days from the date the critical contingency was declared under regulation 49, the critical contingency operator must give urgent notice of that situation to the industry body, the director of civil defence emergency management, the Secretary, and the Minister of Energy.

On receiving urgent notice under subclause (1), the industry body, the director of civil defence emergency management, or the Minister of Energy may require the critical contingency operator to provide any information it holds concerning the critical contingency.

The critical contingency operator must make a determination to terminate a critical contingency when the transmission system is capable of supplying gas to all consumers at the level at which gas was supplied immediately before the event that gave rise to the critical contingency.

To avoid doubt, the critical contingency operator may make a determination to terminate a critical contingency under subclause (1) before gas supply has been restored to all consumers.

The critical contingency operator may make a determination to terminate the critical contingency if it is satisfied that—

As soon as possible after making a determination to terminate a critical contingency under regulation 60, the critical contingency operator must give urgent notice to all transmission system owners advising them—

As soon as possible after making a determination to terminate a critical contingency under regulation 60, the critical contingency operator must give urgent notice to the following persons that the critical contingency has been terminated:

The critical contingency operator must also advise a person, by electronic transmission or any other similar method of electronic communication, of the critical contingency termination if—

The critical contingency operator must, as soon as is reasonably practicable after making a determination to terminate a critical contingency under regulation 60, publish a statement that the critical contingency has been terminated.

As soon as is reasonably practicable, but no later than 5 business days after making a determination to terminate a critical contingency under regulation 60, the critical contingency operator must, in consultation with the transmission system owners, prepare and publish an incident report that states—

No later than 30 business days after making a determination to terminate a critical contingency under regulation 60, or as otherwise agreed between the critical contingency operator and the industry body, the critical contingency operator must prepare and publish a performance report that—

In preparing the performance report under subclause (1), the critical contingency operator must consult with—

The critical contingency operator must—

As soon as practicable after being notified under subclause (2A)(b), the industry body must publish on its Internet site the draft report and information referred to in that paragraph.

As soon as practicable after receiving submissions under subclause (2A)(c), the industry body must publish the submissions on its Internet site.

If the performance report identifies an amendment to a critical contingency management plan, the relevant transmission system owner must—

If the performance report identifies an amendment to the communications plan or information guide, the critical contingency operator must amend and publish a revised communications plan in accordance with regulation 35 or a revised information guide in accordance with regulation 37, as applicable.

The performance report must also state whether the assessment in subclause (1) is such that the critical contingency management plans have met the test criteria in regulation 34(1).

Within 20 business days of receiving a performance report from the critical contingency operator, the industry body may notify the critical contingency operator and industry participants that it intends to conduct an audit of the performance of the critical contingency operator, any asset owner, or any retailer and notify each person that is to be the subject of the audit.

The purpose of an audit under this regulation is to determine—

A transmission system owner must provide any information and assistance reasonably requested by the critical contingency operator for the purpose of preparing the reports under regulations 64 and 65.

As soon as practicable after the termination of a critical contingency, the industry body must request,—

The allocation agent or a transmission system owner must provide the requested data within 5 business days after the later of—

The industry body must analyse the data to ascertain whether it indicates that any consumer installation continued to use gas contrary to a curtailment direction.

For each consumer installation that is suspected of using gas in contravention of a curtailment direction, the industry body must request the following information from that consumer installation’s retailer (or, in the case of a large consumer, the transmission system owner):

Retailers and the transmission system owner (as applicable) must provide to the industry body the information specified in subclause (4) within 5 business days of receiving the request.

Where the industry body has a reasonable belief that a consumer installation continued to use gas contrary to a curtailment direction, the industry body must contact the consumer to—

If the explanation is unsatisfactory or no explanation is provided, the industry body must,—

The purpose of regulations 68 to 71 is to determine a critical contingency price to be applied to the contingency imbalances sustained by interconnected parties and shippers during a critical contingency to—

Each transmission system owner, interconnected party, and shipper who will be affected by the determination of a critical contingency price may nominate 1 person to be considered by the industry body when appointing an independent industry expert to determine the critical contingency price.

Each affected transmission system owner, interconnected party, and shipper must provide the name, qualifications, and industry associations of their nominee to the industry body in writing within 5 business days of the termination of a critical contingency.

Subject to subclauses (2) to (4), the industry body must appoint an industry expert to determine the critical contingency price from the persons nominated under regulation 68 within 10 business days of the termination of a critical contingency.

The industry body must only appoint a person nominated under regulation 68 if the industry body considers that the nominee would be an independent and suitably qualified industry expert.

No person may be appointed as an independent industry expert under this regulation if the person—

If the industry body considers that none of the nominees would be an independent industry expert, the industry body has absolute discretion to appoint an independent industry expert who has not been nominated under regulation 68.

The industry body must publish the appointment of the industry expert within 2 business days of making such an appointment.

The following are both final and binding on all affected transmission system owners, interconnected parties, and shippers:

The industry expert is appointed as a service provider on the terms and conditions set out in a service provider agreement.

The remuneration of the industry expert is as agreed between the industry body and the industry expert in the service provider agreement.

The industry expert must determine the critical contingency price in dollars per gigajoule of gas.

The industry expert must seek to set the critical contingency price at a level that reflects the price that would be established by an efficient short-term market that allocated scarce gas resources to the highest value uses during the critical contingency.

If—

No later than 15 business days after being appointed under regulation 69(1), the industry expert must give notice of the proposed critical contingency price, with reasons, to—

The persons listed in subclause (1) may make a submission, including giving any relevant information, to the industry expert on the proposed critical contingency price.

Any submission must be provided to the industry expert no later than 5 business days after the notice in subclause (1) is given.

No later than 10 business days after giving notice under subclause (1), the industry expert must, after considering any submissions provided in accordance with this regulation, give notice of the critical contingency price, with reasons, to the persons listed in subclause (1).

The objectives of regulations 74 to 82 are to—

The industry body may perform its functions under regulations 76, 78, and 79 by entering into an arrangement or contract with any person or persons for the performance of those functions.

Within 35 business days of the end of the month in which a critical contingency was terminated, the transmission system owner must determine the contingency imbalances for each affected party over the period of the critical contingency.

A contingency imbalance may be a negative contingency imbalance or a positive contingency imbalance and, for the purposes of these regulations,—

In accordance with regulations 75 to 79,—

In this regulation, Gas (Downstream Reconciliation) Rules 2008 includes any gas governance regulations or rules concerning downstream and upstream reconciliation.

When determining a contingency imbalance for each affected party, the transmission system owner must—

The industry body must receive and hold the payments made in accordance with regulation 78 in a secure and separate bank account in trust for the benefit of parties with a positive contingency imbalance.

On the next business day following the date specified in regulation 74(1), a transmission owner must provide to the industry body—

For the purposes of the information referred to in subclause (1),—

The industry body must publish information received under subclause (1) within 5 business days of receiving it.

On the first business day of the month that is 2 months after the month in which the critical contingency was terminated, the industry body must issue invoices to affected parties with negative contingency imbalances for the amounts provided in accordance with regulation 77.

No later than the 20th day of the month after the month in which the invoice was issued, each affected party with a negative contingency imbalance determined under regulations 74 and 75 must pay the amount stated on the invoice to the industry body.

On the first business day of the month that is 2 months after the month in which the critical contingency was terminated, the industry body must issue credit notes to affected parties and transmission system owners with positive contingency imbalances for the amounts provided in accordance with regulation 77.

On the last business day of any month during which the payments required under regulation 78 have been received, the industry body must pay the amount calculated in accordance with the following formula to each transmission system owner and affected party with a positive contingency imbalance:

Subject to subclause (4), the industry body must make subsequent payments to transmission system owners and affected parties calculated in accordance with subclause (2) so that the amount stated in the credit note is fully paid out to those interconnected parties and shippers.

The industry body is not required to pay out an amount greater than the total amount of payments received under regulation 78(2) held in its contingency cash pool at that time.

If a transmission system owner or an affected party who has been allocated a contingency imbalance under regulations 74 to 79 considers that a contingency imbalance has been calculated or allocated in error, the person must advise the industry body of the error as soon as practicable.

Subclause (3) applies if the industry body considers—

The industry body may give notice to the relevant transmission system owners directing them to recalculate any affected imbalances in accordance with regulations 74 and 75 and resubmit the corrected contingency imbalance information to the industry body under regulation 77.

If subclause (3) applies, then the industry body must—

Regulations 78(2) and 79(2) to (4) apply to any adjusted contingency imbalances, with all necessary modifications.

The industry body may not give notice under subclause (3) later than 6 months after the date that the relevant critical contingency was terminated.

A payment made under these regulations in relation to a contingency imbalance discharges in full any payment obligation or liability under MPOC, VTC, or any other transmission system code in respect of the same contingency imbalance.

This regulation does not limit regulation 13(2) and (3).

Regulations 67 to 81 do not apply to a regional critical contingency.

A consumer commits an offence, and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000, if—

A consumer other than an industry participant commits an offence, and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000, if—

It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under this regulation if the defendant proves that—

In appointing an auditor to conduct an audit of a large consumer, asset owner, retailer, allocation agent, or critical contingency operator under regulation 42 or 65A, the industry body must appoint a person who is independent of, and not in a position of conflict of interest with, the party that is to be audited.

No officer or employee of the industry body may be appointed as an auditor.

The party that is to be the subject of the audit may recommend 1 or more auditors for the industry body’s consideration.

In conducting an audit, the auditor may request any information from the party or the industry body.

The request must be reasonable and strictly for the purposes of the audit.

In providing information to the auditor, the party or the industry body may indicate to the auditor that the information is considered to be confidential.

The auditor must prepare a written audit report and, within the time frame agreed with the industry body, give that audit report to both the industry body and the party audited.

The audit report may be used—

The party being audited must pay the costs of the audit.

For the purposes of this regulation, the costs of the auditor are those costs that have been agreed between the industry body and the auditor.

The critical contingency operator’s role under these regulations is distinct and independent from any other role or capacity, including as a transmission system owner or system operator, that the critical contingency operator may have under the MPOC, VTC (or other transmission system code), or any contractual agreement.

A consumer with an essential service provider designation or a minimal load consumer designation approved under these regulations as in force before 1 March 2014—

If the consumer wishes to have its application under regulation 46E determined before its existing designation expires, the consumer must apply under regulation 46E not later than 1 June 2014.

No later than 1 March 2014, every retailer must provide the industry body, in respect of each of its consumers that has an essential service provider designation or a minimal load consumer designation that was approved under these regulations as in force before 1 March 2014, with the following information:

The industry body must use the information provided under subclause (1) to identify any inaccuracies in the load shedding fields of the registry and direct the responsible distributor to correct any inaccurate entries.

If the industry body identifies any ICP identifier that is recorded in the registry as having a designation but that is not on the list provided by the consumer’s retailer, the industry body must—