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Total feedback submissions
IPART has reviewed TAHE’s compliance with NSW Rail Access Undertaking for the 5 sectors owned by TAHE in the Hunter Valley Coal Network (HVCN) from Newstan to Woodville Junction.
RailCorp was the owner of this section of the network for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 compliance years under review. It was transferred to TAHE on 1 July 2020, when TAHE was established as a State-Owned Corporation. TAHE, as the new owner, has assumed responsibility for the compliance assessment in these years. For the purposes of our decision, it is intended that a reference to TAHE is also a reference to the former RailCorp.
Our decision is that TAHE did not comply with the asset valuation roll forward principles or ceiling test in 2018-19 or 2019-20. TAHE over-recovered $3 million in access revenue from combined coal and non-coal freight customers over the period. TAHE’s cumulative ‘Unders and Overs Account’ balance is now around $11 million.
As required by the Undertaking, we recommended that TAHE:
- updates its Regulatory Asset Base and Unders and Overs Account balance as of 30 June 2020 in line with our decisions
- makes a plan to return its Unders and Overs Account balance to zero and maintain it within 5% of forecast annual access revenue
- establishes an Unders and Overs Account policy in consultation with its stakeholders for our approval.