The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has published its final revenue decision for Power and Water Corporation.

Power and Water is required to submit its revenue proposal to the AER every 5 years outlining how much is required to be recovered from customers over a 5-year period to provide safe, reliable and secure electricity services and address important emerging issues such as network cybersecurity, climate resilience, integration of consumer energy resources, and digitalisation.

Power and Water’s Executive General Manager Customer, Strategy and Regulation Jason Howe, has welcomed the final revenue decision.

‘The AER’s final decision is a balanced and excellent outcome for Power and Water’s more than 84,000 customers to ensure electricity network services can be delivered safely, securely and reliably over the next five years,’ said Mr Howe.

‘Customers are at the heart of everything we do and our engagement with them has been a pivotal part of developing our investment plans.

‘Throughout the process Power and Water prioritised areas of revenue expenditure identified by customers and communities through extensive engagement and consultation,’ Mr Howe said.

These include important emerging areas such as improved network resilience due to severe weather events, the uptake and integration of consumer energy resources including rooftop solar, batteries and electrical vehicles, and cyber security and digitalisation measures.

The decision supports the accelerated roll-out of smart meters proposed by the Australian Energy Market Commission and the benefits they provide to the whole system.

Power and Water’s proposal is a balance of addressing customer affordability with the need to uplift technical capabilities to address renewable energy transition.

‘The decision facilitates the transition to renewables in the Northern Territory including a significant change in the generation mix required for the future.’

Over the five years, the AER approved Power and Water recovering $1,054.8 million in revenue from customers, which is an increase of around 16% from the current regulatory control period (2019 – 2024).

‘The majority of customers (consuming less than 750 MWh annually) are subject to the Northern Territory Government’s Electricity Pricing Order, which sets electricity retail prices, and the network tariff increases are not expected to directly impact the majority of customers. Customers consuming 750 MWh or more will see an increase in the network charges component of their retail electricity bill.’

Power and Water acknowledges that this excellent outcome was made possible due to the collaboration and respectful engagement between the AER, the People’s Panel, consumer advocates and many other stakeholders.

‘We would like to thank all those involved in this work to deliver valuable outcomes to our Northern Territory customers,’ Mr Howe said.

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