Hansard debates

  For  the  reasons  given  in this statement,  I  consider  that  the  bill  is
  compatible with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006.
   The Hon. Nicholas Kotsiras, MP
  Minister for Energy and Resources
ENERGY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (FEED-IN TARIFFS AND OTHER
MATTERS) BILL 2013
Second reading

  Mr KOTSIRAS (Minister for Energy and Resources) -- I move:

  That this bill be now read a second time.
The Energy Legislation  Amendment (Feed-in Tariffs and Other Matters) Bill  2013
will amend various acts within the energy and resources portfolio.
Part 2 of the bill amends the Electricity Industry Act 2000 to implement aspects
of   the government's response to the Victorian   Competition   and   Efficiency
Commission's  report   Power   from  the  People  --  Inquiry  into  Distributed
Generation. The government response  will  improve  the  efficiency  of  feed-in
tariff arrangements and assist in minimising barriers to distributed generation.

The  Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission's  recommendations included
establishing a new efficient and fair feed-in tariff that  would be available to
all  small-scale,  low-emissions  or  renewable  energy  distributed  generation
facilities.  The inquiry found that  continuing to provide  above market premium
feed-in tariffs  for  these facilities could  lead to unnecessary  increases  in
electricity prices for all Victorian consumers.
The bill implements the government response to  this recommendation by providing
for a new efficient and fair feed-in tariff rate.
This efficient  and  fair rate will be set by the Essential Services Commission,
based  on  the  wholesale  price   of  electricity  and   the  distribution  and
transmission costs avoided through the supply of  electricity  from  distributed
generators.

The bill also  allows for  a wider  range of  small generation  facilities to be
eligible for  the feed-in tariff  scheme  by removing  existing  restrictions on
facility  eligibility. This  will  allow  new technologies  to  be assessed  for
inclusion in the scheme on a case-by-case basis.
An  electricity  customer with  a  small solar energy  facility  who receives  a
premium feed-in tariff  and who chooses  to increase the generating  capacity of
that facility after 31 December 2012 will no longer be eligible for that premium
rate.
While these customers may still be eligible for the new efficient and fair rate,
if they were to continue to receive a premium rate, the costs for these schemes,
ultimately borne by  all Victorian  electricity  customers, could  significantly
increase.

The  bill strengthens oversight of  the feed-in tariff schemes  by ensuring that
feed-in tariff  scheme  terms and conditions  may  be referred to  the Essential
Services  Commission  at any time for assessment of whether they  are  fair  and
reasonable. This referral  power  is  the main tool the government has to ensure
compliance with  the  minimum  requirement for  retailers  to provide  fair  and
reasonable  feed-in  tariff  offers. The Electricity Industry Act 2000 currently
requires  referrals to be made within a relatively short time and does not allow
later referrals. The amendment ensures  that  customers  are  not  disadvantaged
merely  because  the  terms and  conditions  offered  by  a  retailer  were  not
immediately referred for assessment.
I turn now to the other provisions of the bill.
Part  6 of the bill amends the Victorian  Energy  Efficiency  Target  Act  2007.
Energy retailers participating in the scheme will now include retailers who meet
an  energy-use  threshold,  as  an  alternative  to the  existing  5000-customer

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threshold.  This   amendment  addresses   an  existing  anticompetitive   market
distortion
where retailers  with  relatively few, but  very large, customers  are currently
outside the scheme.
In order  to align  with the range of activities permitted under  the New  South
Wales scheme, the bill will also expand the scope  of the Energy Saver Incentive
scheme by  enabling project-based and  public lighting activities to be eligible
for the scheme.
The bill makes a number of other changes to improve energy safety in Victoria.
Part  3 of  the  bill amends  the Electricity  Safety Act  1998 to  clarify that
electrical installation  work that will  make  an electrical  installation  or a
building supplied with electricity unsafe, is prohibited by the act.

Part 4  of  the bill amends the  Energy Safe Victoria Act 2005  to permit Energy
Safe  Victoria to provide information  to the Australian  Energy Regulator. This
will facilitate appropriate assessment of network safety compliance costs by the
economic regulator when determining network prices.
Finally, part 5 of the bill inserts a new offence  provision into the Gas Safety
Act 1997 to prohibit a  person from carrying out building work that will make  a
gas  installation,  or a building  supplied  with gas, unsafe.  This new offence
mirrors an existing offence in the Electricity Safety Act 1998.  The  bill  also
confirms that the  functions  of Energy  Safe  Victoria include  monitoring  and
enforcing compliance with the Gas Safety Act 1997 and regulations.
I commend the bill to the house.
Debate adjourned on motion of Ms NEVILLE (Bellarine).

Debate adjourned until Wednesday, 3 April.