Explanation of the levy
The Authority publishes three sets of levy rates in each financial year:
- Indicative levy rates - estimated rates published in December/January prior to the start of the financial year, intended as a guideline to the industry for planning purposes.
- Invoiced levy rates - estimated rates gazetted prior to the start of the financial year after finalisation of Authority budgets, used to calculate monthly levy invoices during the financial year.
- Reconciled levy rates - actual rates published in December after the annual audit is complete, used to determine whether industry participants have underpaid or overpaid their levy for the previous financial year.
There are four steps in the levy calculation:
- Determine estimated/actual Authority costs for the financial year and allocate costs across activities.
- Allocate costs for each activity between generators, purchasers and distributors in the proportions sets out in the Regulations (refer to Regulation 7, table 1).
- Obtain the estimated/actual quantity of electricity generated, purchased and conveyed during the year, and the number of consumer connections (refer to Regulation 7, table 2).
- Calculate the estimated/actual levy rates.
There are two main levy processes in each financial year to meet the requirements of the Regulations:
- Monthly invoicing - actual monthly units (provisional) are multiplied by the invoicing levy rates to give a monthly invoice amount.
- Annual reconciliation - at the end of the financial year a reconciliation is performed using actual annual units multiplied by the reconciled levy rate to determine the amount each participant should have paid; the difference between this total and the amount paid on monthly invoices during the year is then either refunded or invoiced to participants.
This page is related to: About the Authority.