First Gas owns and operates more than 2,500 kms of high pressure gas transmission pipelines and stations that supply natural gas from Taranaki to industrial consumers throughout the North Island.

As we are the sole provider of this transmission infrastructure, we are regulated by the Commerce Commission under Part 4 of the Commerce Act 1986.

We are subject to:

  • Price-quality path regulation, which sets the prices we can charge and the level of service we must provide our customers; and
  • Information disclosure requirements, which requires us to publish information about our financial and non-financial performance.

The following documents demonstrate our compliance with the regulatory regime and are required to be disclosed annually:

  • Asset management plan
  • Transmission access code
  • Pricing
  • Standard transmission contracts
  • Capital contribution policy
  • Peak flows and capacity
  • Information disclosure
  • Price-quality path compliance statements
  • Pricing methodology
  • Contract disclosure

For the period up to 30 September 2017, First Gas is required to provide separate disclosures and compliance statements for the Maui and Non-Maui transmission pipelines.

From 1 October 2017, we will be publishing consolidated material for the transmission network.

Asset management plan

Our asset management plan sets out how First Gas intends to manage our transmission network to meet customer gas demands over the next ten years.

Transmission access code

Our transmission access codes set out the terms and conditions for accessing the First Gas transmission pipelines.

In August 2021, Firstgas replaced the Vector Transmission Code with the new Gas Transmission Code (GTC). The terms and conditions of the GTC remain the same as those in place under the Vector Transmission Code.

Pricing

Pricing schedules for the year beginning 1 October.

Standard transmission contracts

Information on our standard contracting arrangements for the gas transmission network.

Capital contribution policy

Our capital contribution policy sets out the costs for parties looking to connect to our gas transmission network.

Peak flows and capacity

First Gas is required to provide information annually on the peak flows, gas transmission capacity, and capacity reservations on our gas transmission network.

Information disclosure

First Gas is required to publish annual performance information on its transmission network, covering matters such as measures of quality, prices, financial information, and forecasts of future expenditure (including planned investment).

Price-quality path compliance statements

First Gas is subject to a default price-quality path (DPP) under Part 4 of the Commerce Act.  The DPP sets a revenue cap for our transmission business and determines the service quality standard we must meet across our network.  The following documents show our compliance with this regulatory regime.

In January 2021, Firstgas discovered an immaterial error in the value of local body rates included in recoverable costs in the FY2020 Compliance Statement. The value of rates has been corrected in the Compliance Statement updated in February 2021 and the Wash-up Amount for FY2020 has reduced by $127,000 from that previously disclosed.

Pricing methodology

Our pricing methodology sets out how First Gas allocates costs and sets prices for our transmission network.

Contract disclosures

Information on our standard and non-standard arrangements for the gas transmission network.

Engagement with our transmission customers

Firstgas has developed a customer engagement plan for our gas transmission business for the year commencing 1 October 2019.  The purpose of this plan is to summarise the issues we plan to engage with customers on during the year.  It explains why we consider these issues to be important areas for engagement and describes how we plan to carry out this engagement.

 Click here to read the document.

Regulation of the gas market

For further information on regulation under Part 4 of the Commerce Act 1986, please visit the Commerce Commission website here.

Market and access arrangements in the gas industry are regulated by the Gas Industry Company (GIC).

More information on the GIC is available here.

Further information

For more information regarding regulation of our gas transmission business, please contact our regulatory team.