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Rolling outage framework - archive

This page contains the security of supply outage plan (SOSOP), which describes events that might give rise to the need for rolling outages, indicates when the Commission might direct rolling outages, and specifies the approach that participants should adopt when implementing rolling outages.

Rolling outages are a last resort measure for managing severe energy shortages. Under normal conditions they should not be necessary, but it is prudent to plan for contingencies where they may be required.

The Electricity Governance (Security of Supply) Regulations 2008 - obsolete, require the Commission to publish a Security of Supply Outage Plan (SOSOP) which sets out how rolling outages would be managed.

Under the Security of Supply Regulations, "specified participants" must prepare Participant Outage Plans (POPs). The SOSOP stipulates that the specified participants required to prepare POPs are:

  • every electricity distributor (i.e. an electricity distribution business as defined in section 2(1) of the Electricity Act) that takes electricity directly from the grid (note, this does not include Transpower or embedded networks); and
  • every person who uses electricity that is conveyed to the person directly from the grid, provided that person uses more than 80 GWh per annum according to the Commission's calculations.

Participants who must prepare POPs

The following specified participants are required to prepare POPs.

Note: where the Commission has approved a POP, this is indicated by the addition of a link to the participant's website where the POP is located:

This page is related to: Security of supply.

Back to top Last updated on 19 September 2012