Raw Aus Pol

Simple Wins / Australian Red Tape Every step, every clock, every authority -- written down.

Transmission network service provider (TNSP)

Proposes, builds, owns and operates transmission infrastructure

The regulated transmission businesses -- Transgrid, AusNet, Powerlink, ElectraNet and others -- which propose projects, run the regulatory investment test, obtain planning approval, acquire easements and build.

Responsibilities

A TNSP is a proponent, like High Speed Rail Authority, and like HSRA it cannot approve its own project. Unlike HSRA it is a regulated commercial monopoly, which changes the character of every step: it is spending money it will recover from consumers, on land it will take from landholders, under a licence it did not compete for.

That is why the process around it is heavy, and any reform proposal here has to start by accepting the reason for the weight rather than treating it as oversight.

The step that has actually delayed projects, though, is none of the regulatory ones. VNI West slipped roughly two years -- from 2028 to late 2030 -- on landholder engagement and assessment. The reforms that matter most to transmission delivery are the ones that change how landholders and communities are dealt with, and those are the reforms that a database of procedural steps is worst at capturing.

Where this body appears in a process

Every point at which Transmission network service provider can hold something up, and why.

ProcessStepWhy it waitsClockTypical
Build a major transmission line — sequential easement pathway Project specification consultation report and consultation notification statutory — 199
Build a major transmission line — sequential easement pathway Project assessment draft report and consultation notification statutory 42 45
Build a major transmission line — sequential easement pathway Project assessment conclusions report decision assessment — 521
Build a major transmission line — sequential easement pathway Route selection and landholder engagement application third party — 540
Build a major transmission line — sequential easement pathway Easement acquisition registration third party — 540
Build a major transmission line — sequential easement pathway Construction and commissioning application applicant — 900
Build a major transmission line — concurrent easement pathway (Victoria) Project specification consultation report and consultation notification statutory — 120
Build a major transmission line — concurrent easement pathway (Victoria) Project assessment draft report and consultation notification statutory — 180
Build a major transmission line — concurrent easement pathway (Victoria) Project assessment conclusions report decision assessment — 120
Build a major transmission line — concurrent easement pathway (Victoria) Route selection and landholder engagement application third party — 540
Build a major transmission line — concurrent easement pathway (Victoria) Easement acquisition, concurrent with assessment registration third party — 540
Build a major transmission line — concurrent easement pathway (Victoria) Construction and commissioning application applicant — 900

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