Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales
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The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales (IPART) is an independent body that oversees regulation in water, gas, electricity and transport industries in NSW. IPART was established in 1992 by NSW State Government with the primary purpose of regulating the maximum prices for monopoly services by government utilities and other monopoly businesses such as public transport.
The Minister responsible for IPART is the Premier, Morris Iemma. Its first Minister was then Premier Nick Greiner. IPART's first Chairman (from 1992 to 2004) was Tom Parry. The current Chairman is Dr Michael Keating. The management of IPART’s organisational arm or Secretariat is conducted by the Chief Executive Officer and Full Time Member. IPART has approximately 73 staff members and an annual budget of $2.7 million.
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[edit] Role
IPART's role is set out in various pieces of state legislation including the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992, the Gas Supply Act 1996, the Electricity Supply Act 1995, the National Electricity (NSW) Law 1997 and the Transport Administration Act 1996.
IPART's core functions are conferred by legislation, Rules and access regimes established by legislation. These functions are to:
- Regulate prices for monopoly services provided by government agencies in NSW (including water, electricity and public transport)
- Regulate natural gas pricing and third party access to gas networks
- Administer licensing or authorisation of water, electricity and gas businesses, and monitor compliance with licence conditions
- Regulate private sector access to water and waste water to encourage competition and re-use
- Register agreements for access to public infrastructure assets and arbitrate disputes about agreements for access to public infrastructure
- Investigate complaints about competitive neutrality referred by the Government
- Administer the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme and its Register of abatement certificates
In addition to these functions, IPART also undertakes reviews and investigations to advise the NSW government and its agencies on a range of economic and policy issues such as pricing, efficiency, industry structure and competition.
[edit] Membership
The Tribunal comprises three permanent members: a part time Chairman, a full-time Tribunal Member/CEO and a part-time Tribunal Member. Tribunal members are appointed by the Premier. The Premier can also appoint any number of additional temporary members. As of December 2007, the permanement Tribunal members are:
- Dr Michael Keating, AC (Chairman)
- James Cox (CEO and full time member)
- Sybille Krieger (part time member)
[edit] See also
- Australian Gas Light Company
- Country Energy
- Energy Australia
- Integral Energy
- Public transport in metropolitan New South Wales
- Sydney Water
[edit] External links
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