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Electricity Industry Act 2010

Electricity industry governance - Electricity Industry Participation Code - Application of other Acts

44F: Substance matters, not form

You could also call this:

“The real actions matter more than how they're written down”

When you’re dealing with rules in the Code about keeping businesses separate or making sure they work at arm’s length, it’s important to look at what’s really happening, not just what things look like on paper. If you need to figure out if something follows these rules, you should think about what the situation actually means and how it affects things financially. Don’t just look at how it’s written down or presented. The real facts and relationships are what matter, not how they’re described.

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44E: Illegal contracts, or

"Rules about when you can cancel agreements that break electricity company rules"

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45: Purposes of exercise of Authority's monitoring, investigation, enforcement, and review powers, or

"Why the Electricity Authority checks and enforces rules in the electricity industry"

Part 2 Electricity industry governance
Electricity Industry Participation Code: Application of other Acts

44FSubstance matters, not form

  1. Any question under a provision in the Code relating to corporate separation or arm’s-length rules is to be determined according to the nature, substance, and economic effect of the relevant interest or relationship or other facts, and independently of form.

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Notes
  • Section 44F: inserted, on , by section 20 of the Electricity Industry Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 46).