South Australian Current Regulations South Australian Current Regulations36A—NERL retailers to comply with code provisions and other requirements
(1) For the purposes
of section 59A(1) of the Act, a NERL retailer must comply with—
(a) a
code made by the Commission under the Essential Services Commission
Act 2002 relating to gas metering; and
(b) if
the scheme under Part 4 of these regulations applies to the retailer, a
code made by the Commission under the Essential Services Commission
Act 2002 relating to energy productivity.
Note—
Regulation 16 provides for the application of a scheme relating to energy
efficiency to NERL retailers.
(2) For the purposes
of section 59A(1) of the Act, a NERL retailer must comply with the
following requirements:
(a) a
NERL retailer must prepare, maintain, publish on its website and periodically
revise a safety awareness plan in accordance with the following requirements:
(i)
the plan must deal with matters prescribed by
subregulation (3);
(ii)
the retailer must obtain the approval of the Technical
Regulator to the plan and any revision;
(iii)
the retailer must comply with the plan as approved from
time to time;
(iv)
the retailer must audit from time to time its compliance
with the plan and report the results of those audits to the Technical
Regulator;
(v)
the retailer must, on or before 31 August in each
year, lodge with the Technical Regulator a report relating to the previous
financial year containing the following information:
(A) the results of any audit of the
retailer's compliance with its safety awareness plan;
(B) details of the measures taken to
implement the plan, such as information about the publication and distribution
of brochures, and the number of times the plan and related material has been
viewed by customers on any website operated by the retailer;
(C) whether the retailer has been able to
comply with all aspects of the safety awareness plan and whether the retailer
considers the plan to have been operating effectively;
(b) a
NERL retailer must, subject to the limitation set out in paragraph (c),
use its best endeavours to supply gas in accordance with the standards of
quality under regulation 38 and any relevant Act or other instrument that
relates to the quality of gas supply;
(c) the
obligation in paragraph (b) is limited to the extent that the
distribution system or the quality of gas supply is adversely affected by the
actions or equipment of a small customer;
(d) a
NERL retailer must use its best endeavours to supply gas in a manner that does
not interfere with the safe operation of a distribution system;
(e) a
NERL retailer must use its best endeavours to provide a reliable supply of gas
to a small customer in accordance with any relevant Act or other instrument
that relates to the reliability of gas supply;
(f) a
NERL retailer must, if it carries out the work of installation, maintenance,
operation, reading or replacement of a meter—
(i)
supply to an entity holding a licence authorising the
operation of a distribution system information obtained from those meters as
is reasonably required by the entity for the purposes of its operations in
such format as is reasonably required by the entity and in a manner consistent
with recognised practices in the gas industry; and
(ii)
allow the entity, at the expense of the entity, to
inspect and test the meter as is reasonably required by the entity for the
purpose of its operations.
(3) The following are
matters that must be dealt with by a safety awareness plan:
(a) the
establishment and maintenance of systems for—
(i)
communicating information to customers regarding the
safety of gas infrastructure, installations and appliances; and
(ii)
measuring the use of such information systems by
customers;
(b) the
provision of material with information and adequate warnings about the
properties of gas relevant to safety;
(c) the
establishment and maintenance of systems for—
(i)
warning the public about the need for due care with
respect to gas infrastructure, installations and appliances; and
(ii)
informing customers about the correct action to be taken
with respect to defects or malfunctions of gas infrastructure, installations
and appliances (including but not limited to gas leaks or suspected gas
leaks), and the means by which customers can report those defects or
malfunctions; and
(iii)
informing customers of approval schemes for gas
appliances and the manner in which a customer can determine whether a gas
appliance has been approved; and
(iv)
informing customers of the fact that persons who
undertake gas fitting work are required to be licensed or registered under the
Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act 1995 and of the manner in
which customers can determine whether a person is appropriately licensed or
registered; and
(v)
ensuring that a point of contact for customers regarding
gas supply difficulties and gas shortages is provided.
(4) In this
regulation—
"relevant Act or other instrument" means—
(a) an
Act (including any instrument made under an Act); or
(b) a
standard, code, guideline or other instrument issued by the AER, the
Commission or the Technical Regulator,
that applies to a person engaged in the retailing of gas.