Regulatory investment test projects

Each year we conduct a 10-year look ahead of Tasmania's electricity network and report the findings in our Annual Planning Report (APR). The APR identifies actions and projects we expect will be required to ensure the network meets customer needs and performance obligations.

Prior to pursuing a project, we consider how the investment will be in the long term interests of our customers. In particular, we consider how the investment will affect the price, quality, safety and reliability of our services.

The Regulatory Investment Test

For higher cost projects, we undertake and publish a cost benefit analysis to identify the option that addresses an identified need at the greatest net benefit (or least net cost), to the National Electricity Market. These analyses are known as regulatory investment tests (RITs) for transmission (RIT-T) and distribution (RIT-D).

The RIT falls into two main categories:

• Market benefits – where the identified need is to increase overall benefits to those that produce, consume or transport electricity.
• Reliability corrective action – where the identified need is to meet a technical service standard or regulatory requirement.

Consultation

Three main documents are produced and consulted upon as part of the RIT process. For RIT-Ts these are the:

1. Project Specification Consultation Report (PSCR)
2. Project Assessment Draft Report (PADR)
3. Project Assessment Conclusion Report (PACR)

For RIT-Ds these are the:

1. Notice of Determination (NoD)/Options Screening Report (OSR)
2. Draft Project Assessment Report (DPAR)
3. Final Project Assessment Report (FPAR)

Generally, the first stage of consultation relates to the need for investment, identifies credible network options to address the need and, where applicable, technical information to encourage proponents to identify and propose non-network solutions to address the need.

The second stage ranks the credible options based on their net benefits (difference between costs and benefits) and responds to submissions received at stage one.

The third stage updates the cost-benefit analysis, confirms the preferred option (the option with the highest net benefits) and provides a summary of and responds to submissions received at stages one and two.

Stakeholders are encouraged to make submissions during the RIT process to ensure their input is appropriately captured in our analysis. TasNetworks caters the level of engagement on the RIT documents based on the complexity of the project, cost of the options and probability of non-network solutions.

Regulatory investment test for transmission (RIT-T) projects

Regulatory investment test for distribution (RIT-D) projects