The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has published its final decision on the revenue that Basslink Pty Ltd can recover for the Basslink transmission cable for the 2026-30 period as a regulated service.
The regulator has decided to allow Basslink to recover $459.5 million in revenue for the 2026-30 period.
APA Group owns and operates Basslink, having acquired the 370km undersea electricity interconnector between Victoria and Tasmania in late 2022.
Related article: Basslink to be converted to regulated transmission service
AER chair Clare Savage said the AER had carefully considered key issues raised by stakeholders during consultation.
“We have closely examined the value of the opening regulatory asset base and its capital and operating expenditure to ensure the revenue approved is prudent and efficient.
“When we approved the application to convert Basslink’s services to regulated transmission services, we considered its important role supporting energy security.
“The benefits of a regulated Basslink depend on its reliability. We have included adequate revenue in today’s final decision to support that reliability for energy consumers,” Savage said.
Basslink’s costs were previously recovered via a contract with Hydro Tasmania. Should Basslink exercise the option to convert, these costs will be recovered from consumers.
Basslink is required to determine cost-sharing between Victoria and Tasmania and has proposed a 75:25 allocation.
Based on this approach for sharing of the regulated network costs proposed by Basslink, this final decision will result in an indicative annual bill increase of around $10 for Victorian residential electricity customers and $25 for Tasmanian residential electricity customers in 2026-27, followed by a $1 increase per annum for Tasmanian residential customers for the following three years.
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The AER’s June 2025 decision to convert Basslink to a fully regulated interconnector determined that, even with additional transmission charges, an open link is more likely to provide benefits and be in the long-term interests of consumers.
For the AER’s revenue decision to apply, APA Group must exercise the option to reclassify Basslink’s registration with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) from a market network service provider to a transmission network service provider.
