SUFA DAAUs

During the regulatory period, a number of different iterations of a SUFA model were proposed and considered.

Clause 7.6(a) of Aurizon Network’s 2010 access undertaking required that, within three months after the approval date (1 October 2010), it would submit to the QCA:

• a proposed standard user funding agreement
• a draft amending access undertaking (DAAU), incorporating amendments to its undertaking it considered reasonably necessary to implement the undertaking’s investment framework principles.

On 22 July 2013, Aurizon Network submitted a Standard User Funding Agreement draft amending access andertaking (the 2013 SUFA DAAU) to us for approval. This followed Aurizon Network’s withdrawal of the 2012 SUFA DAAU.  On 25 July 2013, we issued Aurizon Network with a notice of investigation, under section 146 of the QCA Act.

Considerable progress had been made between Aurizon Network and the customer working froup with regard to developing the 2013 SUFA DAAU.  However, an agreed SUFA had not been developed.

In May 2014 we published a position paper, presenting a package of measures we consider necessary to facilitate the development of a workable, bankable and credible SUFA. We were assisted in our review by Grant Samuel (financial advisor), and Clayton Utz (legal advisor).  We received six stakeholder submissions on our position paper in July 2014.

On September 2014, in the lead-up to our draft decision, we released exposure drafts for a number of SUFA agreements to inform interested parties of our thinking and to elicit the views of interested parties.

We released our draft decision on Aurizon Network’s 2013 SUFA DAAU, including the full suite of SUFA documents, on 31 October 2014 and requested parties to provide submissions on the matters raised by 16 January 2015.  The date for stakeholder submissions was subsequently extended to 30 January 2015.  We received five submissions.

We also released two working papers, providing a stylised representation of how SUFA rents are determined and flow amongst parties under different hypothetical scenarios on an annual and monthly basis. We sought stakeholder comments on the working papers by 15 March 2016. No submissions were received.

On 4 April 2016 we released a position paper regarding SUFA rental streams in the event that the central Queensland coal network (CQCN) declaration expires or is revoked.

On 14 June 2016, we released our final decision on Aurizon Network’s 2013 SUFA DAAU. Our final decision was to refuse to approve the 2013 SUFA DAAU under section 142(2) of the QCA Act.

Following the release of the final decision, QCA staff contributed a summary to the September 2016 edition of Network (see p. 19).

On 24 December 2010, Aurizon Network submitted a standard user funding agreement draft amending access undertaking (the 2011 SUFA DAAU) to us for approval.

However, the 2011 SUFA DAAU did not comply with the requirements of clause 7.6(a) of the 2010 access undertaking.  We therefore decided to exercise the powers under clause 7.6(b) of the undertaking, that allowed us to develop our own proposed SUFA and investment framework amendments.

On 20 December 2012, Aurizon Network submitted a standard user funding agreement draft amending access undertaking (the 2012 SUFA DAAU) to us for approval.

On 22 July 2013, Aurizon Network withdrew its 2012 SUFA DAAU.

Our consideration of the 2012 SUFA DAAU thus concluded on that date.

On 24 December 2010, Aurizon Network submitted a standard user funding agreement draft amending access undertaking (the 2011 SUFA DAAU) to us for approval.

On 30 April 2012, Aurizon Network withdrew its 2011 SUFA DAAU.  Our consideration of the 2011 SUFA DAAU thus concluded on that date.