National system summit [16may06]

AUSTRALIA'S energy industry will reach a crucial juncture on Friday as state energy ministers meet to decide on a new national system of regulation.The meeting, to be held in Darwin, comes nearly two years after an agreement to replace state-based regulation with a new national regime, set to come into place on January 1 next year.
The Australian Energy Regulator will assume control of some 40 energy networks around the country on this date. The regulating body's chairman, Steve Edwell, intends the new laws to have a system of incentives built into them to encourage greater investment in capital works, maintenance and service standards.
South Australia will be represented at the meeting by Energy Minister Patrick Conlon.
"Energy reform is threatened by the Federal Government's failure to adequately address greenhouse and ensure investment into the Australian electricity market," Mr Conlon said yesterday.
"I will be raising this on Friday."
The Energy Networks Association, which represents energy companies including Energy Australia, Integral Energy and Multinet Gas, has come up with its own model for the new national laws which it hopes the ministers will adopt.
ENA chief executive Andrew Blyth said more than $16 billion needed to be spent maintaining and upgrading the country's gas and electricity networks over the next five years.
Adelaide law firm Thomson Playford said lack of national regulation was hurting businesses.
Thomson Playford legal consultant and energy specialist Jack Moschakis said a simplified national set of laws would help cut costs for industry players.
"The power sector is consolidating at a rapid rate - both vertically and horizontally across the supply chain," Mr Moschakis said.
However, the regulatory framework had not caught up, he said.
"This regulatory lag is not good for businesses or consumers," he said.
The State Government has yet to decide whether to transfer responsibility for retail pricing to the national regulator next year.