Electricity Industry Act 2004

The network service provider in relation to a covered network that is regulated under this Part, or an associate of the network service provider, must not engage in conduct for the purpose of hindering or preventing —

access by any person to services in accordance with the Code or the electricity system and market rules; or

the making of access agreements or any particular agreement in respect of that network; or

the access to which a person is entitled under an access agreement or a determination made by way of arbitration.

A person who has access to services under an access agreement, or an associate of the person, must not engage in conduct for the purpose of hindering or preventing access by another person to services of a covered network that is regulated under this Part.

Without limiting subsection (1) or (2) —

a person is taken to engage in conduct for a particular purpose if —

the conduct is or was engaged in for purposes that include, or included, that purpose; and

that purpose is or was a substantial purpose;

a person may be taken to have engaged in conduct for a particular purpose even though, after all the evidence has been considered, the existence of that purpose is ascertainable only by inference from the conduct of the person or of any other person or from other relevant circumstances.

In this section —

a reference to engaging in conduct is a reference to doing or refusing to do any act and includes a reference to —

making a contract or arrangement or giving effect to a provision of a contract or arrangement; or

arriving at an understanding or giving effect to a provision of an understanding; or

requiring a covenant to be given or giving a covenant;

a reference to refusing to do an act includes a reference to —

refraining (otherwise than inadvertently) from doing the act; or

making it known that the act will not be done.

Subsection (1) or (2) does not apply to conduct in which a person engaged in accordance with an agreement, if the agreement was in force on 30 March 1995.

In this section —