Submission to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Mandatory code of conduct for the east coast gas market – Consultation Paper

The Australian Government is designing a Mandatory Gas Code of Conduct (the Code), as part of the Energy Price Relief Plan announced in December 2022 to ensure that east coast gas users can contract for gas at reasonable prices and on reasonable terms and is proposing a price anchor of $12/ GJ for commercial negotiations of wholesale gas contracts

Whilst we acknowledge that the full impact of the emergency order gas price cap legislation announced in December 2022 is still to play out, ADPF member feedback clearly denotes evidence of significant gas price uncertainty and volatility is now hurting dairy processors bottom line.

In our submission, we have requested:

• As a matter of priority, the government delivers unique energy policy solutions for the dairy manufacturing sector to lower energy costs, regardless of the company size.
• Urgent clarity and resolution on the status of the emergency order gas price cap legislated in December 2022, applying a temporary price cap of $12/ GJ for the supply of gas 12 months – and in turn action to enforce this legislation; and
• Transparency on contract offers upstream (as applies for electricity), with adequate tme to respond to those offers (e.g., a minimum of 5-10 business days).

Read the ADPF submission here.