Welcome to TasNetworks' 2024-2029 revenue reset

We are pleased to announce the submission of our Combined Proposal and supporting documentation to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), detailing the funding we need to deliver safe, reliable and affordable electricity to Tasmanians for the coming 2024-2029 regulatory control period.

>> Download our key Combined Proposal documents below <<

Overview

Snapshot

Attachments

In addition to the above, the full suite of supporting documents for the Combined Proposal are available from the AER's website here.

Shaped by customer and stakeholder insights gathered during our most comprehensive and diverse engagement program to date, our Combined Proposal seeks to deliver the outcomes our customers value while also enabling Tasmania’s transition to a clean energy future.

We know that households and businesses are under increasing pressure, so we’ve focused on keeping our prices as low as possible by reducing our costs where we can. This has resulted in total forecast expenditure that's lower than our total current period allowance from the AER.

We also acknowledge that while investment needed to connect new, low-cost renewable generation and support customer-driven solar and storage will mean price increases in the short to medium-term, we know it will ultimately help deliver more reliable services and lower prices in the future.

Completed over 18 months, we spoke directly with over 570 customers and stakeholders across the state in a series of workshops, focus groups, collaborative panels, online forums, webinars and surveys, as well conducting individual discussions with major industrial customers, who use over 50% of the state’s electricity supply each year. The engagement consistently revealed the number one priority for our customers and stakeholders is affordability, followed by:

1. Reliable electricity supply
2. Transparent and socially responsible approaches that result in sustainable solutions
3. Proactive, long-term investment in renewable energy that increases Tasmania’s capabilities and unlocks associated community benefits.

Developing a Combined Proposal that balances these preferences in the current economic environment is both more complex and important than ever before, so we’ve also included trade-offs that put downward pressure on costs without sacrificing reliability and safety or undermining the delivery of other priorities.

Proposal highlights

• Total expenditure for transmission and distribution networks lower than the allowance for the 2019-2024 period
• Targeted improvements in the reliability of parts of our distribution network
• A suite of measures to improve the resilience of our networks to the effects of climate change, including improved bushfire resilience
• A new customer service incentive scheme, including a more meaningful measure of customer service.

Next steps

We would like to thank the many customers and stakeholders who have given their time to help shape our Combined Proposal so far. The AER is now reviewing the Combined Proposal and supporting documentation, and their final decision will influence how much we spend on our networks over the next five years.

We welcome feedback on the Combined Proposal, either directly to us or through the AER's consultation process. The expected timelines for the determination process are outlined below:

*Milestones are indicative only and subject to change.

How to get in touch with us

Email: revenue.reset@tasnetworks.com.au

Phone: 1300 555 727

Web: tasnetworks.com.au

We are pleased to announce the launch of our 2022 Annual Planning Report (APR), detailing our plans for Tasmania's transmission and distribution electricity networks for the coming decade.

The document is now available for download in both full and summary versions:

• Full APR
• Summary APR

Updated annually, the APR is our living blueprint - outlining how much electricity we expect our customers to use and where, current and emerging challenges for the network for the next ten years, along with any actions we need to take to ensure we continue to provide Tasmania with safe, reliable and affordable electricity.

The Report was formally launched on Friday 4 November to interested stakeholders in a 90-minute session that covered:

• Tasmania’s network developments
• Demand, supply and forecast scenarios
• Marinus Link and North West Developments
• TRET and renewable energy zones
• Network security performance
• System strength
• Network asset retirement and replacement
• Network service performance
• TasNetworks' Future Distribution System (FDS).

Materials from the forum are available here, including a recording of the full 90-minute session.

Feedback welcomed
Comments, questions and enquiries are welcome regarding this important document, particularly from those interested in discussing opportunities to participate in demand management or other innovative solutions to manage network limitations. Contact us by emailing planning.enquiries@tasnetworks.com.au

Phase 3 of our engagement program ran between January and July 2022, and was our largest and most comprehensive phase to-date. We focused on conducting deeper dives into the topics and issues that customers and stakeholders had highlighted in previous phases, gathering detailed feedback to help shape our Draft Plan and Combined Proposal.

• Download the full R24 Phase 3 Engagement Report here
• Download the summary R24 Phase 3 Engagement Report here.

The Phase 3 report provides comprehensive detail from the 33 engagement activities completed during this six-month period, including feedback from individual customers, transmission customers, retailers, customers experiencing vulnerability, and TasNetworks' reference groups. The report covers:

• Engagement methodologies
• Outcomes
• Evaluation
• Conclusions
• Activity and process summaries for individual engagement activities
• Consolidated results from evaluation surveys, completed by engagement participants.

To view the associated materials for Phase 3 engagement activities like agendas, presentations, notes and summaries, be sure to visit our Engagement Summaries page.

On the 25 July we released our Draft Plan for the 2024-29 regulatory period for public consultation, welcoming submissions for a four-week period.

Thank you to the seven stakeholders and industry bodies who gave their time to compose a submission, these are available for download* below:

• Master Electricians Australia
• Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council (TMEC)
• Tasmanian Renewable Energy Alliance
• Aurora Energy
• ENTATAS
• Salvation Army Housing Tasmania
• Reset Advisory Committee.

We also conducted targeted engagement with individual customers and stakeholders on the Draft Plan during the four-week consultation period. The results of these sessions are captured in the following reports:

• Individual customer forum report
• Stakeholder online forum report.

Following the consultation period, we also received a detailed enquiry from an interested stakeholder, which can be downloaded here.

Next steps

Between now and October 2023, TasNetworks staff will be focusing their efforts on:

• Analysing the above submissions, from which we'll develop a one-page summary to share here on Talk with TasNetworks
• Identifying and cataloguing each of the information requests and questions
• Funnelling those information requests/questions to the relevant internal subject matter experts for consideration
• Where possible, addressing those information requests/information as part of either scheduled engagement activities, or directly in our Combined Proposal.

Any questions regarding the above submissions (or our R24 engagement program) should be directed to the Engagement Team by emailing R24@tasnetworks.com.au

- TasNetworks R24 engagement team

*Please note: identifying details such as email addresses, mobile and telephone numbers have been redacted from the above submissions where relevant.

We are excited to announce the release of our Revenue Reset Draft Plan for public consultation.

This important document details our proposed customer pricing for the 2024-29 regulatory period, along with our plans for building, operating and maintaining Tasmania’s distribution and transmission electricity networks. The Draft Plan is the precursor to our Combined Proposal, which will be submitted to the Australian Energy Regulator in January 2023.

>> Download the full Draft Plan here

>> Download the summary Draft Plan here

The Draft Plan is the culmination of several years of work by over 100 specialist TasNetworks staff. Components of the Plan have also been shaped by the invaluable feedback of 200+ customers and stakeholders we’ve engaged with across the state so far.

We’ve endeavoured to create a plan that balances our customer priorities of affordability and reliability, while also enabling the adoption of new technologies - including solar generation, batteries and electric vehicles.

Draft Plan highlights

• Customer feedback to-date, and how it has helped shape our plans
• An overview of our transmission and distribution network strategies
• Our preliminary expenditure forecast (4 per cent lower than the 2019-24 period)
• Key internal and external factors influencing our forecast
• Projects that seek to improve network reliability in poorly-performing communities
• Initiatives to make our network more resilient against climate change.

The purpose of releasing the Plan for public consultation is to confirm we’ve listened to and understood the needs and priorities of Tasmanians as we plan the future of the electricity network. Feedback from the consultation will help us further refine our plans and thinking as we prepare the Combined Proposal for submission in early 2023.

How you can get involved

We welcome written submissions on our Draft Plan via email or the postal service using the below details:

Email: revenue.reset@tasnetworks.com.au

Post:
Mr Don Woodrow
Program Leader, Revenue Resets
TasNetworks
PO 606
Moonah TAS 7009

Submissions closes: 5pm 19 August 2022.

There are a number of prompting questions in the Draft Plan that you can use to guide your submission if required. You are also welcome to submit questions, either using the methods above, or by using the Q&A section here on Talk with TasNetworks.

Please also note that all submissions will be published here on Talk with TasNetworks, and will be shared with TasNetworks' key advisory groups, such as the Reset Advisory Committee. Although anonymous submissions will not be accepted, any information of a private nature (such as postal address or contact details) will be redacted prior to publication.

We look forward to receiving your submission.

Phase 2 of our engagement program ran between October and December 2021, and was focused on building knowledge and understanding of our engagement participants, identifying key topics for the following phase, and seeking feedback on the Draft Customer and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy. During this phase we directly engaged with over 100 customers and stakeholders across eight state-wide activities, including energy generators, reference group members, industry stakeholders and individual customers.

• Download the R24 Phase 2 Engagement Report here

The Phase 2 report provides important detail regarding feedback on the Draft Customer and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy, as well as providing further context on the development of key topics for later phases of engagement. The report covers:

• The engagement methodologies
• Outcomes
• Evaluation
• Conclusions
• Activity and process summaries for individual engagement activities
• Consolidated results from evaluation surveys, completed by engagement participants.

To view the associated materials for Phase 2 engagement activities like agendas, presentations, notes and summaries, be sure to visit our Engagement Summaries page.

Phase 1 of our engagement program took place between November 2020 and September 2021, and was dedicated to research and planning. The purpose of Phase 1 of our R24 engagement program was to uncover customer and stakeholder needs and interests using research activities and methods, and to use the resulting insights to directly shape our Draft Customer and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy. During this first phase we directly engaged with a total of 63 customers and stakeholders in seven different activities held across the state.

• Download the R24 Phase 1 Engagement Report here

The Phase 1 report provides important context and detail regarding how our engagement program and topics for engagement were developed with direct input from our customers and stakeholders, and covers:

• The engagement purpose
• Objectives
• Topics
• Key resources
• Methodologies
• Engagement outcomes
• Activity and process summaries for individual engagement activities.

To view the associated materials for Phase 1 engagement activities like agendas, presentations, notes and summaries, be sure to visit our Engagement Summaries page.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) will host an online public forum on Thursday, 28 April 2022 to allow stakeholders to ask questions about the Tasmanian Framework and Approach (F&A), the first step in the two-year regulatory process to determine efficient prices for electricity distribution and transmission services.

[Click here to register for the forum]

The F&A determines, amongst other things, which services will be regulated and the broad nature of their regulatory arrangements. This includes an assessment of services (service classification) and whether the AER needs to directly control the prices and/or revenues set for those services. The F&A also facilitates early consultation with consumers and other stakeholders and assists electricity distribution and transmission businesses like TasNetworks to prepare regulatory proposals.

The AER's process for this preliminary framework and approach paper is unlike any they have recently delivered, as it considers options that will impact the future provision of potential new services.

The AER is seeking feedback on the proposed approaches discussed in TasNetworks' position paper, and any other issues relevant to the F&A process. Customers and stakeholders are invited to attend the online forum on Thursday 28 April: Click here to register for the forum.

Registered attendees will be emailed a Microsoft Teams meeting invite by the AER once registrations have closed.

In case you missed it, you can access TasNetworks' Framework and Approach materials here.

TasNetworks has again joined forces with fellow electricity distribution network service providers (DNSPs), Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, Essential Energy, Evoenergy and NT Power and Water to jointly engage on network resilience.

What is network resilience?
The above DNSPs have developed the following draft definition of resilience:

"The ability to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard."

Why engage?
Genuine and meaningful engagement is critical to balancing the needs of our customers and stakeholders as we develop our Proposals for the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) for the 2024-29 regulatory period. TasNetworks has joined up with other DNSPs in the same regulatory cycle to engage on common issues in order to minimise the engagement effort for our customers and stakeholders.

How are we engaging?
This engagement has been built around a collaboration paper (available here), followed by an online forum on 8 February 2022. The purpose of the paper and the forum is to answer the overarching question,

"Over the next 10 years, how can DNSPs best support the communities they serve in adapting to a changing climate?"

The collaboration paper also seeks to understand:

• The relationship between resilience and reliability, and gathering stakeholder views on the proposed definitions
• Stakeholder views on whether regulatory frameworks and objectives consider resilience
• Stakeholder views of the role of networks in community resilience and response.

How can I provide my feedback?
Start by downloading the collaboration paper (here). You can then attend the online forum on 8th February (register here), as well as lodge a written submission in response to the issues discussed in the collaboration paper.

Written submissions close on 28 February 2022 and should be emailed to Brent McKillop (brent.mckillop@tasnetworks.com.au). Page 1 of the collaboration paper has more information on how to submit your written submission if this is of interest to you.

Feedback from the forum and written submissions will then be considered for inclusion in TasNetworks’ Proposals for the 2024-2029 regulatory period to the AER.

** Click here to REGISTER for the forum **
When: Tuesday 8 February, 2-4pm
Where: online only
Pre-reading: collaboration paper

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) is due to make its next revenue determination for TasNetworks' transmission and distribution networks in early 2024, covering the 2024-2029 regulatory period. However before TasNetworks can submit the Proposals that inform the revenue determination process, the AER has to define what services we are permitted to provide - as we are a regulated monopoly business. The AER does this through a document called a Framework and Approach paper (F&A paper).

Our current F&A paper was finalised in July 2017, and much has changed within the electricity supply industry since then. One example includes that distribution network service providers, like TasNetworks, are no-longer responsible for providing meters (however they are still responsible for servicing existing meters until they are replaced by advanced meters).

The AER is not obligated to issue a new F&A paper for every revenue determination it makes, however the pace of change within the energy sector makes it likely that the AER will at least update or amend TasNetworks’ F&A paper. With this in mind, TasNetworks has requested that the AER amend or replace the F&A paper applying to our networks for the 2024-29 regulatory period. We have proposed a number of additions and changes to the services in the F&A paper, which if adopted would enable us to:

• Provide portable reliability batteries to our life support customers during planned outages
• Repair a limited range of minor private asset defects which might be identified by TasNetworks crews when working to rectify unplanned network outages
• Construct private electrical assets, such as private power poles, as a provider of last resort
• Provide Stand-alone power systems (SAPS) to existing customers as a replacement for their network connection, in cases where it is beneficial for both the customer and TasNetworks to do so.

Download and provide your feedback

These changes are outlined in our submission to the AER, with the main submission available for download here and the cover letter here. We developed these changes in consultation with a range of our stakeholders, and based on the feedback we have received to-date, we believe they are supported by our stakeholders. The AER will also conduct its own public consultation process regarding the proposed changes. This will include calling for submissions on whether it's necessary to amend or replace the current F&A paper, followed by the release of a preliminary F&A paper for public comment.

If you are interested we encourage you to download and read our proposed changes, and to make a submission to the AER. Submissions can be made until COB Tuesday, 30 November 2021. To make a submission and for more information about the AER’s consultation process, visit the AER website here.