AER Australian Energy Regulator : Victorian natural gas networks submit proposals for 2018-2022 access arrangements

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has received access arrangement proposals from Victoria's natural gas networks for the 2018-2022 access arrangement period.

These proposals set out the revenue that the gas networks propose to collect from gas consumers in Victoria and Albury through network charges for the five year period.

Revised proposals have been submitted by four gas distribution networks and one gas transmission network:

• Australian Gas Networks (Victoria) and Australian Gas Networks (Albury) - AGN's Victorian gas network serves the northern, outer eastern and southern areas of Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, rural communities in northern, eastern and north-eastern Victoria, and south-eastern rural townships in Gippsland. AGN's Albury gas network serves the city of Albury and its environs, extending to Jindera to the north of Albury. The two AGN networks will be considered under a single access arrangement.
• AusNet Gas Services - AusNet's distribution network serves customers across central and western Victoria.
• Multinet Gas - Multinet's distribution network serves customers throughout the South and East areas of metropolitan Melbourne, Yarra Ranges and South Gippsland Towns.
• APA VTS Australia - APA's Victorian Transmission System (VTS) supplies the Melbourne metropolitan area, country Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

The proposals have been published on our website.

Invitation for submissions

We invite interested parties to respond to these proposals by providing us with written submissions. These should be emailed to: [e-mail](link sends e-mail) (link sends e-mail) by close of business 3 March 2017. Alternatively, submissions can be mailed to:

Mr Chris Pattas
General Manager, Network Regulation
Australian Energy Regulator
GPO Box 520
Melbourne VIC 3001

The AER prefers that all submissions be sent in an electronic format in Microsoft Word or other text readable document form and publicly available, to facilitate an informed, transparent and robust consultation process. Accordingly, submissions will be treated as public documents and posted on the AER's website, unless prior arrangements are made with the AER to treat the submission, or portions of it, as confidential. Those wishing to submit confidential information are requested to:

• clearly identify the information that is the subject of the confidentiality claim; and
• provide a non-confidential version of the submission.

Public forum

The AER has invited AGN, Multinet, AusNet and APA to present their proposals to stakeholders at a public forum in Melbourne on 1 February 2017. The forum will also introduce stakeholders to our Consumer Challenge Panel for these reviews.

If you are interested in attending the public forum, please register your interest by emailing your details to [e-mail](link sends e-mail) (link sends e-mail) by Monday, 23 January 2017.