New Draft Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Bill 2016 in NSW
Monday 5 December 2016 @ 12.22 p.m. | Legal Research
Early last month (4 November 2016), the NSW Department of Fair Trading released an exposure draft bill for the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Bill 2016 which aims to consolidate gas and electrical consumer safety laws into a single Act across NSW.
Background to the Changes
NSW Fair Trading is consolidating the gas and electrical consumer safety laws into a single Act to provide a more streamlined and consistent approach to the regulation of both energy sources. The proposed Act will have consistent compliance and enforcement provisions, including penalty notices.
Both the gas and electricity consumer safety laws provide for the safe consumer use of gas and electricity, and prescribe and enforce minimum safety standards for gas and electrical equipment and installations.
The proposed Act will repeal the Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2004, the Electricity (Consumer Safety) Regulation 2015 and the Gas Supply (Consumer Safety) Regulation 2012 and make consequential changes to the Gas Supply Act 1996. The merger and restructure of the legislation will provide one source of regulation for gas and electricity consumer safety that is clear and consistent, easier to read and up to date.
Proposed Key Changes in the New Draft Bill
The Bill is a merger and restructure of current gas and electricity consumer safety laws including the following amendments:
- Gas consumer safety provisions will be strengthened to equal electricity consumer safety provisions, including the issue of penalty notices;
- Penalty amounts for gas related offences will be increased;
- Batteries of certain types that are declared to be high risk battery articles are proposed to be regulated under the new Act;
- Gas appliances displayed for advertising will be treated as being displayed for sale;
- A definition for a ‘gas component’ will be included; and
- Authorised officers will be able to investigate and prohibit the unsafe use of gas appliances, electrical articles or gas and electrical installations.
The proposed new Act will consist of 8 Parts including:
- Part 1 - Preliminary and Definitions;
- Part 2 - Electrical Articles;
- Part 3 - Gas Appliances;
- Part 4 - Common provisions for unsafe electrical articles and gas appliances;
- Part 5 - Common installation provisions for electrical, gas and autogas;
- Part 6 - Common provisions for accident reporting and investigation;
- Part 7 - Common provisions for enforcement; and
- Part 8 - Miscellaneous provisions
NSW Department of Fair Trading has indicated that draft regulations for the new Act will be developed once the Bill has been introduced and passed in Parliament.
Submissions close on the draft Bill on 16 December 2016.
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Sources:
Draft Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Bill 2016 [NSW] and secondary materials as reproduced in TimeBase LawOne
