The Roadmap was designed with the long-term financial interests of NSW electricity consumers in mind.
This is embedded in legislation. The Electricity Infrastructure Investment 2020 (the EII Act) has a clear objective to improve the affordability of electricity.
The Roadmap introduces a number of new, independent entities that have distinct roles to help the Roadmap achieve its goals. There are also a number of reports and policy frameworks that aim to protect consumers.
Key entities involved
There are two kinds of entities involved in the Roadmap:
- investment coordinators; and
- regulators.
Investment coordinators
The Infrastructure Planner will coordinate where networks, generation, long duration storage and firming capacity will be built. This coordination will ensure that new infrastructure is developed in the right place, at the right time, to deliver clean, reliable and affordable energy to the households and businesses of NSW.
The Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act 2020 sets out that the Minister will appoint the Energy Corporation of NSW (EnergyCo) as the Infrastructure Planner for at least 5 Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) in NSW, including:
- the Central-West Orana REZ surrounding Dubbo
- the New England REZ surrounding Armadale
- an Illawarra REZ on the South Coast
- the Hunter Central Coast REZ, and
- the South-West REZ surrounding Hay
Find out more about EnergyCo.
The Consumer Trustee’s purpose is to act independently and in the long-term financial interests of NSW electricity customers. It aims to improve the affordability, reliability, security and sustainability of the electricity supply. The Consumer Trustee does this through long-term planning and well-structured procurement processes.
In 2021, the Minister for Energy appointed AEMO Services Ltd, a subsidiary of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), as the NSW Consumer Trustee.
Find out more about AEMO Services Ltd.
The Financial Trustee is appointed and overseen by the Consumer Trustee. Equity Trustees Ltd has been appointed as the Financial Trustee.
The Financial Trustee establishes, owns and administers the Scheme Financial Vehicle (SFV).
The SFV will hold money in a nominated deposit account called the Electricity Infrastructure Fund (the Fund). All cash flows related to the Roadmap are intended to be paid to and distributed from the Fund.
The SFV has several roles, including entering into commercial contracts as well as receiving payments to and making payments from the Fund.
Find out more about the Financial Trustee, the SFV and the Fund.
Regulators
The key roles of the AER include:
- calculating the prudent, efficient and reasonable costs of transmission (network) infrastructure projects, and
- deciding how much money should ultimately be recovered from consumers to contribute towards these costs.
Find out more about the Australian Energy Regulator.
The key roles of IPART include:
- auditing the performance of Roadmap entities, and
- preparing annual reports.
Find out more about IPART.