Bills Digest No. 79 2000-01
Renewable Energy (Electricity)(Charge) Amendment Bill 2000
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Renewable Energy (Electricity)(Charge) Amendment Bill
2000
Date Introduced: 7 December
2000
House: Senate
Portfolio: Environment
and Heritage
Commencement: Immediately after the
commencement of the Renewable Energy (Electricity)(Charge) Act 2000(1)
To amend the Renewable Energy
(Electricity)(Charge) Act 2000 so that both the obligations imposed
upon large buyers of electricity under the Government's mandatory renewable
energy target and the penalty for non-compliance with these obligations
commence at the same time.
Legislation underpinning the Government's mandatory renewable
energy scheme,(2) the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act
2000 and the Renewable Energy (Electricity)(Charge) Act 2000, was
introduced into Parliament in June 2000, but not finally passed until
October 2000. The effect of this delay was that the scheme could not start
on 1 January 2001 as originally envisaged by the Government.
As passed in October 2000, the Renewable Energy (Electricity)(Charge)
Act 2000 introduced a penalty ('shortfall charge') for electricity
buyers that failed to meet annual targets, starting 1 January 2001. The
Renewable Energy (Electricity)(Charge) Amendment Bill 2000(3)
corrects this situation by deleting the reference to 2001 in calculating
the rate of shortfall charge in the Renewable Energy (Electricity)(Charge)
Act 2000.
Item
1 of schedule 1 amends section 6 of Renewable Energy
(Electricity)(Charge) Act 2000. The effect of this is that the potential
liability to pay a shortfall charge will only occur when the Renewable
Energy (Electricity)(Charge) Act 2000 commences, rather from 1 January
2001.
- Which is 18 January 2001.
- Readers are referred to Bills Digest no. 198 of 1999-2000 for background
on the scheme. The Digest can be viewed at: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/1999-2000/2000BD198.htm
- The Bill was introduced into Parliament at midnight on 7 December
(the last sitting day of the year) and passed by both houses during
the early morning hours of 8 December.
Angus Martyn
18 January 2001
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2000
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 2000.
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