Submission to IPART on Draft Cost Allocation Guide

Developing and maintaining a Cost Allocation Guide will not only assist in providing transparent access to declared infrastructure services, but also help to deliver greater transparency of the costs of providing regulated services in general. 

PIAC supports IPART’s aim to ensure that the Guide leads to transparency and consistency of cost allocation. PIAC also supports IPART’s guiding causality principle in allocating costs. Given that the Guide is not binding, PIAC considers that IPART should only accept deviation if the business can clearly demonstrate that doing so would result in a materially preferable outcome for consumers. Further, PIAC recommends that the Guide include explicit principles to this effect to provide additional certainty to businesses and stakeholders.