Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission Act 1997

A utility providing a regulated service may provide a reference for part 3 requiring the commission to investigate whether a price direction in force for the service should be varied.

The commission may accept the reference from the utility only if, in the opinion of the commission based on reasonable grounds—

there has been a material change in the cost conditions for the provision of the regulated service; and

the change was brought about by external events beyond the control of the utility.

The external events mentioned in subsection (2) (b) include the following:

a Ministerial direction under section 19 (Ministerial directions) of the Utilities Act 2000;

the approval or determination of an industry code under the Utilities Act 2000 or the approval of a technical code under the Utilities (Technical Regulation) Act 2014.

Terms of reference for the variation—

may be specified by the utility under section 16 (Terms of industry references); and

are not a disallowable instrument.