Electricity Act 1994

The Minister must, for each tariff year, decide (a price determination) the prices, or the methodology for fixing the prices, that a retailer may charge its standard contract customers for all or any of the following—

customer retail services;

charges or fees relating to customer retail services;Examples—

other goods and services prescribed under a regulation.

The price determination must be in the form of a tariff schedule.

To remove any doubt, the following is declared for a price determination—

it may be made from time to time and not just once a year;

a tariff from the tariff schedule for the current or previous tariff year may be added to, removed or changed;

a tariff may be added to the tariff schedule at any time during a tariff year;

it may include network charges;

it can not be made for distribution non-network charges.

The prices, or prices fixed under the methodology, are, for a retailer, called the notified prices.

In making a price determination, the pricing entity—

must have regard to all of the following—

the actual costs of making, producing or supplying the goods or services;

the effect of the price determination on competition in the Queensland retail electricity market;

if QCA is the pricing entity—any matter the pricing entity is required by delegation to consider; and

may have regard to any other matter the pricing entity considers relevant.

The pricing entity may decide that the notified prices exclude one of the following—

GST;

the amount fixed by the pricing entity, or the amount worked out in a way fixed by the pricing entity, as the net effect on prices of GST and matters related to the imposition of GST (the net GST effect).

In this section—distribution non-network charges means charges of a distribution entity, approved by the jurisdictional regulator under the National Electricity (Queensland) Law, that—

are referable to a specific customer or retailer request; and

do not include network charges.

distribution use of system charges for the use of a shared supply network of the distribution entity; and

any transmission use of system charges payable by the distribution entity for the use of a transmission grid to which the supply network is connected.