How is the scope of a review determined?
IPART has “standing references” under section 11 of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992 to determine prices for NSW Government agencies that are “declared monopoly services”. Click here for a list of declared monopoly services. Section 15 of the IPART Act lists matters to which the Tribunal must have regard during its reviews, including the cost of providing the services, the protection of consumers from the abuse of monopoly powers, the appropriate rate of return on public sector assets, the need to maintain ecologically sustainable development, the need to promote competition and the social impact of pricing decisions. The Minister for Energy also refers pricing of regulated retail electricity tariffs and/or charges to IPART under the Electricity Supply Act 1995. Section 43EB requires the Tribunal to have regard to the effect of the determination on competition in the retail electricity market as well as any matters in the Minister’s terms of reference. IPART may
