05 Oct 2023
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has today released its draft decision on Evoenergy’s electricity network five-year plan for the 2024-29 period (EN24).
While a number of our plans have been accepted in the draft decision, the proposed investment for capital expenditure (capex) has come in 20% less than proposed. This is mainly due to the AER’s perspective on the level of additional investment needed over the period to meet the changing energy needs of Canberrans.
The ACT is in a unique position where a push towards electrification ahead of national net zero targets will mean Evoenergy is required to distribute more electricity than ever before.
“The five-year period covered by this decision will be critical for setting the foundations for 2045,” said Evoenergy General Manager Peter Billing.
“The investment proposal we put forward to the AER included the growing demand for electricity, particularly with the rapid adoption of electric vehicles.”
The draft decision on our proposed operating expenditure (opex) has also come in lower with 14% less than what we proposed. The AER’s forecast is based on its assessment of Evoenergy’s operating expenditure efficiency, using its benchmarking approach.
“We will revise our plan focusing on providing the right level of funding for our network and the community, however, we will continue to face pressure from the regulator to drive cost efficiencies,” said Mr Billing.
We will review the AER’s draft decision in detail and continue community engagement to ensure we accurately reflect the ACT community’s priorities in our revised proposal. Our revised proposal to the AER will be submitted in November ahead of the release of its final decision in April 2024.
You can read the full draft decision on the AER’s website.
Background
Every five years, Evoenergy is required to submit to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) how much it plans to spend operating, maintaining and investing in the electricity network and how these costs should be recovered from electricity consumers. Evoenergy’s proposal for the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029 was submitted to the AER in January 2023. The AER has now published its draft decision. Evoenergy will submit a revised proposal in November 2023 which will be followed by a final decision from the AER in April 2024.