This amendment to the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 comes into force on 1 August 2026, except for clause 5 which comes into force on 1 October 2026.

The amendment amends Part 6B of the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010 to—

(a) provide for a new connection charge balance point principle pricing methodology, including the connection charge balance point principle, which is the principle that a distributor’s pricing methodologies should provide that the contribution to shared network costs from new connections is commensurate with the contribution from existing connections;

(b) empower the Authority to direct distributors to amend their pricing methodologies to make them consistent with the principle; and

(c) align the discount rate calculation used in the connection charge reconciliation required by clause 6B.11 with the most recent available estimate of vanilla WACC determined by the Commerce Commission under its input methodology determination that applies to electricity distribution services.