46AIndemnification of gas and electricity retailers

1. This section applies if—

2. there has been a failure of the acceptable quality guarantee in section 7A in the supply of gas or electricity to a consumer by a retailer, as determined—
   1. by the retailer; or
   2. if the retailer does not make a determination or if the retailer's determination is challenged, by the dispute resolution scheme following a complaint made under section 43EA of the Gas Act 1992 or under section 95 of the Electricity Industry Act 2010 (as the case requires); or
   3. by a court or the Disputes Tribunal (if a court or the Disputes Tribunal makes a determination on the issue); and
3. the failure of acceptable quality was wholly or partly the result of an event, circumstance, or condition associated with—
   1. a gas pipeline or other equipment that was, at the time of the failure, the responsibility of a person then supplying line function services (a responsible party); or
   2. electricity lines or other equipment that was, at the time of the failure, the responsibility of a person (including Transpower (as defined in the Electricity Industry Act 2010)) then supplying line function services (a responsible party); and
4. the failure was not a result of a person involved in the supply complying with a rule or order with which it was legally obliged to comply; and
5. the failure was not a result of action taken by Transpower in its capacity as system operator under the Electricity Industry Act 2010; and
6. the consumer obtains a remedy under Part 2 in relation to the failure against the gas or electricity retailer; and
7. that remedy is a cost to the retailer (a remedy cost).

8. If this section applies, a retailer that has incurred remedy costs is entitled to be indemnified for those costs by the responsible party or responsible parties.

9. The amount of a responsible party's liability under the indemnity is limited to the proportion of the remedy costs that is attributable to the events, circumstances, or conditions associated with the gas pipelines, electricity lines, or other equipment that the responsible party was responsible for at the time of the failure.

10. However,—

11. if a responsible party pays compensation to a consumer (payment A) in respect of a service provided directly by the responsible party to the consumer; and
12. if the retailer incurs remedy costs in relation to that consumer for a failure of acceptable quality that arose from the same event, circumstance, or condition that led to the payment of payment A; then
13. the amount that the retailer would otherwise recover from the responsible party in respect of that consumer must be reduced by the amount of payment A.

14. Disputes between gas or electricity retailers and responsible parties relating to the existence or allocation of liability under the indemnity may be dealt with by the dispute resolution scheme referred to,—

15. in the case of gas, in section 43E of the Gas Act 1992; and
16. in the case of electricity, in section 95 of the Electricity Industry Act 2010.

Notes

• Section 46A: inserted, on 17 June 2014, by section 14 of the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 144).
• Section 46A(1)(a)(iii): amended, on 1 March 2017, by section 261 of the District Court Act 2016 (2016 No 49).