Treasury has responsibility for the administration of the market design aspects of the Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995 (ESI Act). Treasury also administers a number of Regulations made under the ESI Act. The primary purpose of the Act, as it relates to Treasury, is to promote efficiency and competition in the electricity supply industry.

The Act provides the basis for the regulatory framework under which the Tasmanian electricity supply industry operates. As part of Tasmania’s entry into the National Electricity Market a number of enhancements were made to the regulatory framework. These are described in the paper “Authorisation of Tasmania’s NEM Entry Arrangements - Enhancements to Tasmania’s Energy Reform Framework – June 2001”

One of the enhancements involved the issuing of a Ministerial Notice establishing principles to be followed by the Hydro-Electric Corporation in relation to:

• the exercise of certain rights the Corporation has in respect of the bidding of Basslink; and
• the making available by the Corporation of certain inter-regional revenues to which the Corporation is entitled arising from the operation of Basslink.