Who sets NSW electricity prices?
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) is responsible for regulating retail electricity prices for small business and residential customers on standard contracts until at least 2013. IPART reviews prices on a regular basis and sets the prices to reflect the efficient costs of supplying electricity to small customers. IPART determines the wholesale energy costs (the cost of purchasing electricity from generators) and retail operating costs. Distribution and transmission network charges are regulated by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), a national independent body. IPART includes these network costs in its decision on electricity prices for customers. Distribution charges cover the cost of transporting the electricity through the physical infrastructure, the poles and wires that make up the electricity network. Typically, about 45-50 per cent of electricity bills relates to network costs. In making its price determination, IPART undertakes an open and transparent pu
