The South Australian government sought community and stakeholder feedback on updates to the Electricity (General) Regulations 2012 and the Gas Regulations 2012 (the Regulations) to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
The updates included changes on safety and technical standards. Community and stakeholder feedback was sought on the proposed changes to understand any issues that may impact on their effectiveness.
Background
A number of changes to the Regulations have been identified over time in response to audits and inspections, how systems in the energy sector have evolved over time (for example, how electricity meters are installed) or changes to Australian Standards.
The amendments sought to make various changes to the Electricity (General) Regulations 2012 including:
- The recovery of South Australia’s funding contribution to the Energy Advisory Panel (formerly known as the Energy Security Board) from industry fees.
- Changing the definition of “Electrical Installation” to ensure caravans and installations at public events are capture as electrical installations.
- A change to reflect the current practice with the way meters are now installed to ensure the obligations as intended apply to all meter installers.
- A new requirement to record testing results on an electrical Certificate of Compliance.
- The same requirement on licensees to issue electronic Certificates of Compliance for electrical work to certify an electrical installation prior to it being made available for energisation, whether this work is undertaken in the capacity as a worker, for a contractor, or in any other circumstance.
- Specifying the requirement for rescue and resuscitation training in regulation of at least yearly.
- Increasing the timeframe for record keeping of tests of testing instruments from 2 years to 5 years.
- Clarifying the reporting obligations of non-licensed entities with respect to their Safety, Reliability and Maintenance Technical Management Plans.
- New approach limits for 330 kilo-Volt transmission lines.
The amendments sought to make the following changes to the Gas Regulations 2012:
- Referencing the new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Standard AS 4670 Commercial Propane and Commercial Butane for heating purposes.
- Removing the unused gas specification for other gases.
Consultation closed
Consultation was hosted on the yourSAy website with an online workshop held on 26 April 2023.
Submissions closed on 1 May 2023.
Submissions received:
- BHP (PDF, 1.9 MB)
- Boltz (PDF, 218.8 KB)
- ElectraNet (PDF, 2.2 MB)
- ESCOSA (PDF, 413.7 KB)
- Gas Energy Australia (PDF, 145.1 KB)
- MEA (PDF, 335.7 KB)
- P4B Solar (PDF, 126.5 KB)
- PLUS ES (PDF, 194.5 KB)
- TG Certifications (PDF, 24.2 KB)
- Vector Metering (PDF, 106.9 KB)
Outcome
The final Consultation Report (PDF, 498.0 KB) outlines the community and stakeholder feedback received and how matters were addressed in the Regulations. Some matters raised in submissions were out of scope for this round of regulatory changes and will instead be considered in an upcoming broader review of the Electricity (General) Regulations 2012 and the Gas Regulations 2012.
The below regulation amendments were gazetted on 29 June 2023:
- Electricity (General) (Miscellaneous) Amendment Regulations 2023 (PDF, 189.1 KB)
- Gas (Miscellaneous) Amendment Regulations 2023 (PDF, 142.5 KB)
Many of these legislative amendments will come into operation on 18 September 2023 excluding the recovery of South Australia’s contribution to the Energy Advisory Panel from industry fees which commence on 1 July 2023.
