The Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) today released its decision on Queensland Rail’s (QR) 2015 draft access undertaking (DAU).
QCA Chair Professor Roy Green said the decision was to not approve QR’s DAU and to indicate how the QCA considers the DAU must be amended in order for it to be appropriate to approve.
“This has been a long process, however the QCA is confident that it has made the appropriate decision having regard to the interests of all stakeholders,” Professor Green said.
“There are a number of areas where we consider QR’s proposal needs to be amended in order to ensure efficiency and to bring certainty to all parties.”
Professor Green said QR’s business environment has changed substantially since it submitted its 2013 DAU with both coal and non-coal volumes having dropped significantly.
“Despite spare capacity, coal services cannot contract beyond a certain point. Our view remains that coal services should only pay for the services they can contract for, and to do otherwise will be inefficient,” he said.
“We require that the 2015 DAU include a proposed West Moreton tariff equivalent to $17.92/’000 gross tonne kilometres (gtk) as at 1 July 2016. This is about $2 less than QR’s proposed tariff and $17 less than the maximum that QR said it should be entitled to charge.
“We also require QR to credit back to access holders around $30 million in over-recovered access charges since 1 July 2013. This is conducive to regulatory certainty and it is consistent with QR’s earlier proposals and the expectations of stakeholders.”
Professor Green said the QCA had also made other changes in accordance with its statutory obligations which appropriately balance the rights and obligations of QR and other stakeholders.
“We are hopeful that this decision can bring this matter to a conclusion,” he said.
QR has 60 days to respond to the decision. A full copy of the decision can be found on the QCA website www.qca.org.au
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