The Authority is calling for nominations for a new technical group, called the Settlement and Prudential Security Technical Group (SPSTG). The SPSTG will provide practical assistance and advice on the Authority's development of Code amendments and market facilitation measures to further progress the Settlement and Prudential Security Review recommendations made by the Wholesale Advisory Group. The recommendations of the Wholesale Advisory Group are available at:

Further information on the role of the SPSTG, including nomination forms, is available at:

Nominations should be emailed to info@ea.govt.nz with 'Nomination for Settlement and Prudential Security Technical Group' in the subject line by 5pm on Friday, 28 September 2012.

The Authority recently consulted on a number of amendments to the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 (Code) on financial transmission rights (FTRs). The Authority outlined a proposal to give equal priority to grid owners and FTR participants for payments from the FTR account following a default on settlement.

The Authority has considered submissions received in response to the consultation paper on FTR Code amendments and decided to give priority for payments to FTR participants, outlined as option c in the consultation paper. The proposed amendment is available at:

The summary of submissions on the consultation paper is available at:

The Authority has previously consulted on a proposed Code amendment for the commissioning of Pole 3. The consultation paper is available at:

Following consultation, the Authority has made changes to the drafting of the proposed Code amendment to require the HVDC owner to provide the system operator with a direction of transfer limit, a minimum transfer limit and a maximum transfer limit in relation to Pole 3 of the HVDC link, if the HVDC link is in "Pole 3 and Pole 2 bipole not round power" configuration.

The proposed Code amendment is publicised on the Authority's website as required by section 39(3)(a) of the Electricity Industry Act 2010:

The Authority intends to finalise the Code amendment on Monday 24 September 2012.

The Authority has previously published a proposed technical and non-controversial (minor) amendment to Part 13 of the Code to address issues that were highlighted by the wholesale information trading system audit that was performed in regards to demand-side bidding and forecasting. The Authority is now proposing an additional minor amendment. Consequently, the Authority has published an updated version of the proposed minor amendment at:

The Authority has previously advised of its intention to release a consultation paper on the Transmission Pricing Methodology (TPM) Review in September 2012.

The consultation paper is now expected to be released in mid-October 2012 to allow more time for the Authority to finalise the paper.

The Authority is intending to hold forums for interested parties around the time of the release.

The Authority has granted TrustPower Limited an exemption from clause 10.3(b) of the Code and clause 11 of schedule 15.3 of the Code. The Gazette notice and the reasons for the approval have been published on the Authority's website at:

The Authority has granted TrustPower Limited an exemption from clause 10.3(b) of the Code. The Gazette notice and the reasons for the approval have been published on the Authority's website at:

The Authority has granted Payless Energy Limited an exemption from clause 15.38 of the Code. The Gazette notice and the reasons for the approval have been published on the Authority's website at:

The Authority has granted Transpower New Zealand Limited an exemption from clause 15.15(b) of the Code. The Gazette notice and the reasons for the approval have been published on the Authority's website at:

On 5 September 2012, the Compliance Committee considered reports and made decisions on two breaches by the market administrator of clause 7 of Schedule 11.2 of the Code. The decisions are available at:

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