Stakeholder Feedback on the AER’s Process for the 2018 Rate of Return Instrument
Prepared for The Australian Energy Regulator
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) asked The Brattle Group to conduct telephone interviews with a diverse set of stakeholders who had participated in the process running from July 2017 to December 2018 that culminated in the AER’s 2018 Rate of Return Instrument. We asked stakeholders for feedback on the AER’s process. This report lists the stakeholders we interviewed and summarises the feedback we collected but does not attribute the feedback.
Stakeholders generally commended the AER for the effort it invested in designing and conducting the 2018 process. Stakeholders acknowledged that the process provided them with opportunities to participate at the various stages of the review, and that the AER published useful reference materials throughout. The innovative elements of the process – the customer, network and investor reference groups, the concurrent expert sessions, and the independent panel review – were perceived as having the potential to add significant value. However, most stakeholders thought that some, but not all, of this potential had been realised. Stakeholders offered feedback on where improvements could be made in relation to these elements of the process.
