MINUTES – Gas Retail Consultative Forum (GRCF)
MEETING : / 119DATE: / Tuesday 21 November 2017
TIME: / 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM AEDT
LOCATION: / AEMO Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and teleconference.
Contact: /
ATTENDEES:
Name / CompanyDanny McGowan (Chair) / AEMO
Jo Dean (Secretariat) / AEMO
Nandu Datar / AEMO
Lydia Howarth / AEMO
Mark Riley / AGL
Rick Abbott / APA
Justin Bethlehem / AusNet
Robert Gubbins / CGI (dial-in)
Shawn Tan / Energy Australia (dial-in)
Travis Worsteling / Energy Australia (dial-in)
Emille Kueh / Jemena (dial-in)
Stephanie Lommi / Lumo/Red Energy
Andrew Mair / M2 Group
Chantal Wright / Momentum
Kelly Murray / Multinet Gas (dial-in)
Mario Iogha / Origin Energy
Simon Brunning / Origin Energy (dial-in)
Craig Memery / Public Interest Advocacy Centre
CKhristina Cuppari apari / PwC
Nick Burjorjee / PwC
1. Welcome and Apologies
Danny McGowan (Chair) welcomed participants to the 119th meeting of the Gas Retail Consultative Forum (GRCF). Ruth Guest (AEMO) and Stephanie Lommi (Lumo/Red Energy) were as noted as an apologiesy.
2. Market Auditors PwC Presentation on 2016 – 2017 year findings
Lydia Howarth (AEMO) introduced KChristina Cuppariapari and Nick Burjorjee of PwC to present the market audit 2016 – 2017 year findings. This presentation was included in the meeting pack.
The PwC report review highlighted the following:
· The scope of the FY17 focused on the Victorian and Queensland gas markets. New South Wales, South Australia and Australian Capital Territory will be reviewed next year as per the two year requirement.
· The scope of this review is to look into AEMO’s processes and controls to support compliance with the retail market procedures.
· No review qualifications were identified for FY17.
· There were some minor instances reported:
Ø Four4 new findings for the Victorian Retail Market. One of these was a non-compliance with the retail market procedures, relating to delayed customer transactions.
Ø The remaining three were IT related issues. Oneissues. One of these was a non-compliance with the retail market procedures in relation to the FRC hub outage and the remaining two items relate to IT control improvements in relation to the market systems in Victoria.
· 11 Eleven prior year findings were closed this year.
· With the Queensland Retail Market there were two instances of non-compliance with the retail market procedures, one being with delayed customer transaction acknowledgement and the other a delay in determining the STTM distribution allocations for gas days across the year. Action plans have been put in place and these items have been closed.
· The scope for FY18 is New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia with a focus on AEMO’s IT control environment. This will commence in February next year.
· Please provide feedback or potential compliance issues to Christina or Nick at PwC by mid-January. PwC welcomed GRCF feedback on the audit findings for 2017 or the scope of works for 2018 by mid-January 2018, which can be sent directly to either , or .
Mark Riley (AGL) queried the IT related issues stating that this implies that these are not issues with the retail market systems but rather central systems like the hub system, suggesting that the central facility is separated out to identify this. Nick Burjorjee (PwC) responded noted that some of these minor IT issues to cross over and they may split this over the next reports.
Mario Iogha (Origin Energy) queried whether open items as at June 2017 are now closed closeditems. Christina Kristina Capari Cuppari (PwC) confirmed that the majority of these are now closed as of are the reporting periods.
3. Agenda Confirmation
The agenda was confirmed and the following additional items were added:
· Rick Abbott (APA) requested two additional items to be added to the agenda:
· Mario Iogha (Origin) would like to add the issue of the Who can reconnect a service in street in the case of a move in. move in and reconnection. Currently only the Financially Responsible Organisation (FRO) can initiate the reconnection.
· Rick Abbott (APA) would like to dPotential change to the proposed effective date change for the single iscuss changes in gas day start times. This may come forward by two2 years to 2019, from the scheduled date in of 2021.
· Danny McGowan (AEMO) requested two additional items to be added to the agenda would like to add the
· DTS heating value allocation module in Victoria.
· Next meeting date.
4. Previous Minutes – 19 September 2017
Danny McGowan (AEMO) received a request from Lumo/Red to consider updating the Gas B2B SO outage plan to reference NSW/ACT now that Jemena has agreed to adopt the plan. AEMO agreed to take an action item to update the Gas B2B SO outage plan to reference NSW/ACT. (ACTION 119.4.1)
The 118th GRCF meeting minutes were noted as accepted by GRCF stakeholders.
Action Items
Updates to the action items are appended to these meeting minutes.
5. Issues and Change Register
The Issues and Change Register was noted.
Two new items have been added to the list since the last GRCF meeting;
· IN013/17 (Update QLD RMP to be update to include UAFG process)
· IN014/17 (SA minor RMP change to 177).
Two new items have since been withdrawn or completed;
· IN039/16 ('Harmonise the approach to apply password protection on the T900 (Customer Details) file that Retailers send to AEMO)
· IN037/16 ('Remove JCC 3 from AML completion response transaction)
There were no comments on register items.
6. IN035/12 – Decommissioned Sites with Actual Reads
Danny McGowan (AEMO) noted that the purpose objective of the IN035/12- Decommissioned sites with actual reads paper is to seek feedback from participants.
This report proposed that the GRCF should close this issue on the basis that there are no material benefits to continue the practice of periodic reviews and the issue raised in this should form part of a more holistic review.
Danny McGowan went on to explained that in early October, feedback from participants was sought to ascertain whether organisations supported AEMO’s proposal. Section three covers this feedback with only one participant supporting this to be closed. The summary of the remaining feedback received was:
· To run short term reconciliation exercise considering global settlements.
· To continue current practice, potentially increasing the frequency or sharing trends making this more transparent.
· Placing an obligation in the procedures.
Danny outlined the next steps proposed in this paper on the basis that there wasn’t sufficient support to close this issue. AEMO will include this topic as one of the prioritisation items to be scheduled in mid-January 2018. Danny asked the GRCF to consider the feedback in section three and come prepared for to the January 2018 meeting with what option will be chosenchosen preferred option.
Danny related comments from Lumo stating that Lumo supports AEMO decision to prioritise this in a session.
Mario Iogha (Origin Energy) queried how often the reconciliation happenedtakes place. Danny conveyed that the industry as a whole (Retailers, Distribution Business’s and AEMO) took a snapshot simultaneously at any given time. AEMO took the role of collating the data to signal out the differences. It was then agreed on a particular time to make a direct entry into the databases to correct the difference. Danny advised that ana old previous ly tabled paper on the Reconciliation approach would be included in the prioritisation session to demonstrate how this what a snapshot looks like approach had been applied previously. (ACTION 119.6.1)
The paper that set out the next steps was accepted by the GRCF and will be discussed in prioritised prioritisation session.
7. IN007/13 – Combined MIRN Structure Document
Nandu Datar (AEMO) informed the GRCF of that the initiative IN007/13 – Combined MIRN structure document involved combiningstating that previously there was a MIRN structure documents infor NSW/ACT, QLD and VIC noting that there was nothing inand including MIRN structure details for SA where previously there was no document. The aim isapproach toof bring combining these documents together with the approachwas to keep retain the common information and to figure out how to combine the jurisdiction specific information.
The document list has been updated. Earlier documents presented a MIRN structure diagram which didn’t work once all the jurisdictions were together. This has been updated to a table, describing each of the MIRN positions, which is easier to follow than the original diagram.
OtherThe updates included replacing MIRN structure diagram with a table that describes each MIRN position, a table of distributionor list by jurisdiction, information on how the check sum is calculated with examples and current MIRN allocation numbers by jurisdiction.
Mark Riley (AGL) queried why WA wasn’t included. Danny McGowan responded that WA will work through this and this information will not be included. Thisit may be added to the program of work in for 2018 through the WA Procedure Change Committee (PCC).
Mark Riley suggested that the a diagram could be put in to showing the outline theof MIRN positions be included., stating that anyoneA new participant new may not understand the MIRN positions.
Chantal Wright (Momentum) queried therequested inclusion of description of the formula used to calculate a check sum and whether this will be provided in the document or a hyperlink inserted with a description of formula. Danny McGowan responded that the intention is to leave narrative and add multiplication table. Samples of the value created have been provided to stakeholders.
Danny McGowan conveyed that the secretariat of Lumo and Red and LUMO Energy’s feedback about would like to note that in reference to AEMO’s predecessor in the document on page two,. Currently it only refers to AEMO then core participant ID for VIC and QLD., It was recommended that all AEMO ID’s areparticipant ids for SA and NSW/ACT be included in the market. Danny agreed that this should be added for consistency.
Red and Lumo and Red Energy also queried who the transition transimission pipeline owners arewere, which will be looked into and suggestion the references in the document be formatted to reflect to the correct reference in the table at the start of the document. (ACTION 119.7.1)
Nandu Datar advised that these changes will be incorporated into the document and proposed that another review will not be required. This document is to be published in earlyon 8 December 2017.
It was also noted that internal ID’sparticipant code should not be published in this document.
Danny McGowan (AEMO) noted the acceptance of this document with suggested changes to be included.
8. IN021/14 – NSW/ACT Energy Value Validation Range Review
Nandu Datar (AEMO) discussed IN021/14 – NSW/ACT Energy Value Validation Range Review, stating that there had been an exercise to analyse historic data from last seven years was analysed and proposed and make recommendationsamendments to due to concern that the current energy values validation ranges. that exist may be too high and do not reflect reality.
The historic data was analysed to propose what the value should be. CGI provided this information and this was The analysis and proposed amendments were circulated to the GRCF and feedback was received from AGL, Origin, Jemena and Red Lumo. AGL, Origin and Red Lumo agreed with this outcome as long as the proposal was acceptable to Jemena are accepted with proposal.
Jemena suggested informed that some internal projects are currently happening that would have an impact on consumption and requested delaying these changes for six months pending the outcomes of these projects.
After internal discussion with the AEMO’s Operations team, it was agreed decided to accept Jemena’s request to wait for six months for JemenasJimena’s feedback due in April 2018 to provide a clear idea on consumption figures and changes to the validation ranges. Jemena have made a commitment to provide feedback in April 2018. AMEO will progress this in second quarter (June) of 2018.
9. IN006/17 – Harmonise SA’s RMP’s with other jurisdictions
Danny McGowan (AEMO) informed the GRCF that the legal team were looking at retail market procedures however, due to other priorities this wouldn’t happen be completed as early as requiredanticipated.
Due to this, the workshop originally planned forin December 2017 has been moved to 2 February 2018. The A meeting invitation has been sent out to SA stakeholders advising of this change. PThe papers for this workshop will be circulated two weeks prior to the event.
10. Other Business
MultiNet GRCF Rep
Dannyaniel McGowan (AEMO) announced that Verity Watson of MutliNet Gas has accepted another role within her organisation role and will no longer be part ofattend the GRCF. The new MultiNet Gas representative is yet to be confirmed, with Kelly Murray attending until this is decidedin the interim.
Danny acknowledged the contribution that was made by Verity over many years not only to the GRCF but to the retail markets.
Estimated Consumption of meter removal
Mario Iogha (Origin) addressed the issue of estimated consumption after a meter is removed, similar to the decommissioned site issue previously discussed.
After a sample of sites was conducted, approximately 50% of the samples consumption was an estimate. Around 70% of these didn’t have an active customer on site. Mario highlighted that the market isn’t reflective of what was out on site and network charges are being incurred. Mario would like the GRCF to discuss receiving network charges of a meter removal and correcting the market status.
Danny McGowan (AEMO) queried if this was across all jurisdictions and networks. Mario confirmed that this was the case. Danny queried how estimations could be incurred once the meter had been removed, citing that under the procedure the meter reading should be taken at the time of removal.
Kelly Murray (MultiNet Gas) advised that these instances are more around illegal removals or stolen meters and not removed by the distributor. Danny McGowan advised that these should be going through as a substituted read.
Mario Iogha (Origin) added that the only way to have the charges retracted was for the retailer to arrange appropriate service orders, which also incurs charges. Danny McGowan stated that the read could be questioned with a ‘meter data verified’ request.