Assessment of the Incremental Costs of Pricing Zone 3 Access Holders’ Use of Pricing Zone 1 and 2 of the Australian Rail Track Corporation’s Hunter Valley Rail Network
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has commissioned WIK-Consult to prepare a study on the costs of the Hunter Valley rail network, which is regulated through the Hunter Valley Coal Network Access Undertaking (HVAU). The rail infrastructure provider, the Australian Rail Track Company (ARTC), has to provide annual submissions to demonstrate its compliance with the HVAU.
For this purpose, WIK-Consult reviewed and assessed ARTC’s compliance submissions for the financial year 2013 and ARTC’s approach to allocate costs to access holders. WIK-Consult and its sub-contractor TÜV Rheinland analysed the extent to which cost vary with the usage and developed a model to estimate the incremental cost of access holders‘ use of the Hunter Valley rail network. ACCC uses the estimate of incremental cost as a basis for the draft decision on ARTC’s permitted revenue ceilings.
The ACCC has released its draft determination and WIK-Consult’s study for download on its website.
