We published our inquiry report into the Penrose substation fire (report) on 26 November 2015. The report included a number of recommendations to improve confidence in the reliability of electricity supplies, including that:

1. Vector Limited (Vector) and Transpower New Zealand Limited (Transpower) submit an implementation plan to the Electricity Authority (Authority) for approval
2. Vector and Transpower submit progress reports to the Authority every six months until they have completed all actions in the plan.

The implementation plan and progress reports will allow us to monitor progress towards completing the recommended actions for improvement. 

The Authority Board approved the plan on 3 February 2016. We have not assessed the adequacy of the actions because Vector and Transpower are responsible for how their networks perform, so they are best placed to decide what actions are necessary to address the recommendations.

Publishing the plan and the progress reports will give the public confidence that Vector and Transpower are addressing the issues identified by the inquiry.

• Implementation plan

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We are calling for nominations for members of the Retail Advisory Group (RAG) and the Wholesale Advisory Group (WAG). 

The RAG and the WAG are two of the advisory groups set up by the Electricity Authority to meet the requirement of the Electricity Industry Act 2010 to provide independent advice to the Authority on the development of the Code and market facilitation measures. The Act also requires that the Authority have a charter about advisory groups. Information about the charter is available on our website.

The RAG provides independent advice to the Authority's Board (Board) with a focus on the relationships between the retailer, distributor and the consumer. 

The WAG provides independent advice to the Board on projects concerning the design of the wholesale electricity market. This includes wholesale electricity, ancillary services and risk management contracts.

We are seeking members for the RAG and WAG who can bring:

• strategic, commercial, and regulatory expertise
• knowledge and expertise from a relevant component of the electricity supply chain
• an ability to contribute effectively to the advisory group’s tasks
• a balanced representation of views
• an ability to contribute to the advisory group by providing independent advice, regardless of whether or not they are an independent person
• a high level of integrity and credibility within the electricity industry.

We are particularly interested in receiving nominations from stakeholders who have experience in non-traditional and new and growing areas of the sector eg, energy market services.

Further information about the RAG and WAG, and nomination forms, are available on our website.

Nominations should be emailed to rag@ea.govt.nz or wag@ea.govt.nz by 5 pm Tuesday, 29 March 2016, with ‘Nomination for Retail Advisory Group’ or ‘Nomination for Wholesale Advisory Group’, whichever applies, in the subject line.

• Further information about advisory group charter
• Further information about RAG
• RAG nomination form
• Further information about WAG
• WAG nomination form

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We are considering running further hands-on training courses for registry users in June 2016. These courses will be repeats of the courses we have previously run. 

We are considering running two courses, both in Wellington: 

• a two-day course on 14 and 15 June 2016 (9am to 4pm). This course would be suitable for new registry users or people wanting to gain some knowledge of how the registry operates and the lifecycle of an ICP. This course would be similar to previous one-day courses run, but with more hands-on exercises and role playing
• a one-day course on 16 June 2016 (9am to 4.30pm) for existing registry users who want to manage an ICP through its lifecycle.

We would like to hear from people interested in attending.  As the courses require us to set up individual workstations for registry access, total attendance numbers could be limited and may also be limited by organisation.

If you are interested in attending either of these courses, please email your name and contact details to marketoperations@ea.govt.nz by COB 9 March 2016 with ‘June 2016 registry training’ in the subject line, and include your preference for a two day or one day course. We will confirm course dates, timing and venue details once we know who wants to attend.

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Reminder that on behalf of the Rulings Panel we are making its draft revised procedures available for feedback. Feedback to the Rulings Panel should be received by 5:00 pm, Thursday 24 March 2016. We will pass any feedback that we receive to the Rulings Panel for its consideration.

• Draft revised procedures

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System operator Policy Statement 

We have published a consultation paper that proposes changes to the system operator policy statement. 

• Proposal for changes to Policy Statement

Started: 02/02/2016; Ending 15/03/2016 5 pm

Default distribution agreement

We have published a consultation paper that proposes to introduce a default agreement for distribution services.

• Proposal for a default distribution agreement

Started: 26/01/2016; Ending 04/04/2016 5 pm

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