Independent price regulation of heavy vehicle charges
COAG
3rd September 2018
COAG Consultation Regulation Impact Statement – Transport and Infrastructure Council
On 24 July 2018, the Transport and Infrastructure Council of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) released a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) to explore the costs and benefits of options for the implementation of independent price regulation of heavy vehicle charges.
The Transport and Infrastructure Council agreed in May 2015 to a Heavy Vehicle Road Reform program that included in-principle agreement to implement a forward-looking cost base for road expenditure and independent price regulation. The RIS examines two options to progress the implementation of this commitment:
- an initial simple level of independent price regulation where the regulator determines prices (registration and road user charges) based on the expenditure proposals provided by state and territory road managers; and
- a more extensive step that gives the independent price regulator the ability to undertake additional scrutiny of road manager expenditure proposals, introduces road manager customer service charters, provides a more formal mechanism for user input into pricing determinations and gives the independent price regulator the power to alter the mix of registration and road user charges.
The desired objective of the reform program is to improve customer focus for heavy vehicle road users, linking their needs with the level of service they receive, the charges they pay and the investment of those charges back into heavy vehicle road services.
The RIS prepared on behalf of the Transport and Infrastructure Council has been approved by the Office of Best Practice Regulation under COAG RIS requirements.
The consultant engaged by the Transport and Infrastructure Council is seeking public feedback on the proposals (link to consultation web page). The consultation period closes on 31 August 2018.
