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2004-2005-2006
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES AMENDMENT BILL 2006
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Honourable Ian Macfarlane MP, Minister for Industry,
Tourism and Resources)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES AMENDMENT BILL 2006
OUTLINE
This bill is required to make minor technical amendments to the Energy Efficiency
Opportunities Act 2006 (the Act) so that it will correctly reflect its original policy
intent and to facilitate effective administration of the Act.
A small number of technical anomalies have been identified in the Act that affect the
effectiveness of the legislation and the ability of the Department to efficiently
administer the Act. These technical anomalies are associated with the period allowed
for participants to submit their assessment plans, the consequential timing of the five
year assessment cycle, and the ability to delegate the Secretary's powers and
responsibilities to acting SES employees. The provisions dealing with these matters
need to be amended to ensure that stakeholders are not confused by the discrepancies
evident in the Act, and that the Act aligns with the Regulations and Industry
Guidelines.
The Bill will ensure that, in accordance with the original legislative intent:
· the trigger year in which energy use triggers the obligation to apply to register
is unambiguously defined;
· participants in the Energy Efficiency Opportunities program will be required
to submit their assessment plans in the 18 month period starting on the day
after the end of the trigger year;
· assessment plans will be required to cover the 5 year period starting on the day
after the end of the trigger year, and further assessment plans must cover five
year periods commencing on the day after the end of the period covered by the
immediately previous assessment plan;
· ambiguity in a cross reference to requirements for assessment plans is
removed; and
· the Secretary's duties and powers under the Act may be delegated to
employees temporarily acting in the position of an SES employee.
Financial Impact Statement
This bill has no financial impact, as it proposes only minor technical amendments to
the Act to properly effect the original intention of the legislation.
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ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES AMENDMENT BILL 2006
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 Short Title
1. The short title of the Act will be the Energy Efficiency Opportunities
Amendment Act 2006.
Clause 2 Commencement
2. Clause 2 sets out when each provision of the Bill will commence:
· Sections 1 to 3, and Schedule 1, items 6 to 8 will commence on the day the Bill
receives Royal Assent; and
· Schedule 1, items 1 to 5 will be taken to have commenced immediately after the
commencement of the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Act 2006. This will
ensure that the amendments validate the requirements that participants in the
scheme who have, since 1 July 2006, complied with what were understood to be
the requirements of the scheme will not have to revisit or resubmit actions that
they have already taken.
Clause 3 Schedule(s)
3. This clause gives effect to the terms of the items in the Schedule to the Bill. It
explains that the Schedule contains items that may amend other Acts, and that the
effect of items in the Schedule is explained in those items.
SCHEDULE 1 AMENDMENTS
Energy Efficiency Opportunities Act 2006
4. Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Schedule 1 to the Bill amend the Energy Efficiency
Opportunities Act 2006 (the Act). Items 7 and 8 of Schedule 1 ensure respectively
that regulations made and assessment plans submitted before the commencement of
these items are valid.
Item 1 Subsection 9(1)
5. Item 1 of Schedule 1 repeals subsection 9(1) of the Act and substitutes a new
provision to clarify the definition of the trigger year in the Act. The Item makes clear
that controlling corporations, if already registered for participation in Energy
Efficiency Opportunities, do not need to apply to register again if their corporate
group meets the energy use threshold in subsequent years. Controlling corporations
are only required to apply to register if they are not registered at 30 June of the year in
which their group meets the energy use threshold, either because they have not
previously registered, or because they had been de-registered under section 14 of the
Act.
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Item 2 Subsection 9(4)
6. Item 2 of Schedule 1 repeals subsection 9(4) of the Act and substitutes a new
provision to clarify that applications for registration must be made in the nine month
period starting on the day after the end of the trigger year and ending on the following
31 March. This gives unambiguous effect to the intent expressed in the Explanatory
Memorandum to the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Bill 2005 "To avoid doubt,
controlling corporations will have nine months following the end of the trigger year to
apply to register.".
7. Item 2 will also allow the new subsection 9(1) to have its proper effect.
Subsection 9(1), as amended, will require corporations to apply to register if they are
not registered on 30 June of the trigger year. The new subsection 9(4) will ensure that
corporations do not apply to register before the end of the trigger year, which is the
point at which they will be able to know whether they satisfy this requirement. This
will primarily be a consideration for corporations which may be deregistered during a
financial year.
Item 3 Subsection 15(1)
8. Item 3 of Schedule 1 amends subsection 15(1) of the Act to clarify that
assessment plans submitted to the Secretary must meet all of the requirements in
section 18 of the Act. Subsection 15(1) of the Act currently requires that assessment
plans given to the Secretary must meet the requirements in subsections 18(1), (2) and
(3) of the Act. However, this is inconsistent with section 18, which sets out
requirements that must be met in relation to assessment plans additional to those in
subsections 18(1), (2), and (3). This amendment removes the unintended
inconsistency in the reference in subsection 15(1) to the requirements in Section 18 of
the Act.
Item 4 Subsections 15(2) and (3)
9. Item 4 of Schedule 1 clarifies the periods during which assessment plans must
be given to the Secretary. The Item repeals subsections 15(2) and (3) of the current
Act, and replaces them with a requirement to give assessment plans to the Secretary
during clearly specified time periods that match the original policy intention that
registered corporations will have 18 months beginning on 1 July in the financial year
in which the corporation was required to apply to be registered to provide an
assessment plan to the Secretary, and 18 months beginning on every fifth anniversary
of that 1 July to provide subsequent plans.
10. The Explanatory Memorandum to the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Bill
2005 explained that the intent is that "Corporations will initially have 18 months
following the end of the trigger year to submit their assessment plans. They will then
be obliged to submit a new assessment plan (if they continue to be registered) every 5
years".
11. The Act currently allows for submission of assessment plans only during a six
month period ending 18 months after the end of the trigger year, and for submission
Page 3 of 5
of subsequent assessment plans in the six month period preceding every fifth
anniversary of the day on which the first 18 month period ends.
Item 5 Subsections 18(1) and (2)
12. Item 5 of Schedule 1 repeals subsections 18(1) and (2) of the Act, and
substitutes new provisions that set out the period that each assessment plan must
cover, consistent with the time of providing assessment plans set out in Item 4 to
Schedule 1. This amendment will align these provisions with the policy intention
expressed in the Explanatory Memorandum to the 2005 Bill, "the plan must cover a
five year period from the end of the trigger year ..."
13. Subsections 18(1) and (2) currently provide that an assessment plan must cover
five years, commencing on the latest day for lodgement of the plan and ending on the
latest day for lodgement of the next assessment plan. In practice, this means that five
year assessment cycles outlined in the Act are for a period commencing 18 months
after the end of the trigger year.
14. The proposed amendment to the Act will provide that an assessment plan is
required to cover a 5 year period, starting on the day after the end of the trigger year,
and that subsequent assessment plans must cover five year periods commencing on
the day after the end of the period covered by the immediately previous plan. This is
to ensure that the original policy intent is clearly achieved.
Item 6 Section 39
15. Item 6 amends section 39 of the current Act to allow acting SES employees to
be eligible to have the powers of the Secretary under the Act delegated to them. This
will facilitate effective administration of the legislation, for example by avoiding
delays in decision making when particular SES employees may be on leave.
Item 7 Validation of regulations
16. This item confirms the validity of the Regulations, as if they had been made
under the Act as amended by this Bill. This will ensure that participants in the
program may be confident that they can rely that the requirements currently set out in
the Regulations are valid.
Item 8 Validation of assessment plans
17. Item 8 ensures that assessment plans given to the Secretary under Part 5 of the
Act before the commencement of the amendments are taken to be properly submitted.
Under the current Act, it is not possible to submit assessment plans prior to the period
of 6 months ending 18 months after the end of the trigger year. Item 4 of Schedule 1
allows assessment plans to be submitted starting on the day following the end of the
trigger year. Item 8 will ensure that any such plans already submitted will be taken to
be properly submitted upon the item coming into effect. This will avoid confusion
and unnecessary regulatory burden by avoiding the need for companies to re-submit
their assessment plans in accordance with the amended Act.
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