Section 55 - Water Industry Competition Act 2006 - Designation of last resort providers of essential service

55Designation of last resort providers of essential service

Start here

Get a plain-English read of 55

Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Water Industry Competition Act 2006.

55 Designation of last resort providers of essential service

(1) The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, designate a public water utility or licensee as a last resort provider to take the place of a provider of an essential service if the provider of the essential service is declared to have failed.

Note.

The declaration of a failure is made under section 56.

(2) IPART is to investigate and make a recommendation to the Minister as to the person to be designated as the last resort provider.

(3) The person recommended by IPART is to be—

(a) a public water utility in whose area of operations the essential infrastructure is located, or

(b) a licensee who has expressed interest and who satisfies the criteria prescribed by the regulations for appointment as a last resort provider, if any.

(4) Expressions of interest from licensees to be designated as a last resort provider are to be sought in the cases in which IPART determines it to be appropriate or if the Minister so directs in a particular case.

(5) If a recommendation is to be made following an application for a scheme approval, IPART need not commence the necessary investigation until works for the essential infrastructure have substantially commenced under the scheme approval.

(6) The Minister—

(a) must, unless the urgency of the circumstances precludes it, consider IPART’s recommendations, but is not bound to accept them, and

(b) may seek further advice from IPART on the designation of last resort providers.

(7) Without limiting the terms of a designation of a last resort provider, a public water utility may be designated as the last resort provider of all essential services provided within its area of operations if a provider of an essential service is declared to have failed.

(8) If the person to be designated as a last resort provider is not a person recommended by IPART following the seeking of expressions of interest from licensees, the Minister must, before designating the person, unless the urgency of the circumstances precludes it—

(a) give written notice of the proposed designation to—