Section 16C of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section is substituted:

16C.     Quantification of HEC obligation to supply certain water entitlements

(1)  In this section –

commencement day means the day on which the Electricity Supply Industry Restructuring (Savings and Transitional Provisions) Amendment Act 2019 commences.

(2)  For the purposes of this section, an agreement made, for the purposes of former section 16C, between the HEC and –

(a) entitlement holders collectively; or

(b) groups of entitlement holders; or

(c) individual entitlement holders; or

(d) any combination under paragraphs (b) and (c)  –

is taken to have been validly made under that section if approved by the Water Minister as such an agreement before the commencement day, whether or not the agreement was made during or after the 2011 transition period.

(3)  For the avoidance of doubt, an agreement that –

(a) was in force immediately before the commencement day; and

(b) on and after the commencement day, is taken to be a water entitlement agreement –

remains in force, on the same terms and conditions, on the commencement day.

(4)  Subject to section 16E , the amount of water to be made available under section 16B(1) to an entitlement holder is the amount specified in the water entitlement agreement, as fixed by order under section 16D(2) , that applies to the entitlement holder.

(5)  Despite subsection (4) , a water entitlement agreement is not capable of providing for the suspension, relinquishment, phased reduction or extinction (by any means) of the HEC's obligation under section 16B(1) and a term of any such agreement purporting to make such provision is, to that extent, void and unenforceable.