Gas (Market Transparency) Amendment Bill

Gas (Market Transparency) Amendment Bill EXPLANATORY NOTE GENERAL POLICY STATEMENT This Bill aims to improve the information available to the Government and to the gas industry to help the Government monitor gas markets and help market participants make more efficient decisions. The Bill does this by inserting a new regulation-making power into the Gas Act 1992. This power will allow the Government, through regulations, to require industry participants to disclose relevant market information to the chief executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment or to the industry body for gas, the Gas Industry Company Limited. Those regulations are intended to facilitate the collection of additional, accurate, and complete information about the gas market, and the publication of a subset of that information. The power will allow the Government to address key gaps in information needed for gas markets to function efficiently. This approach is necessary because much of the information available about gas markets is incomplete or out of date, or both, reducing its usefulness to the industry and the Government. Poor information leads to inefficient decisions about the constrained supply of gas and, ultimately, to higher costs for New Zealanders. Using the existing powers under the Gas Act 1992 would not ensure that information gaps are addressed and would not allow regulations to be made in a timely manner. DEPARTMENTAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment is required to prepare a disclosure statement to assist with the scrutiny of this Bill. The disclosure statement provides access to information about the policy development of the Bill and identifies any significant or unusual legislative features of the Bill. A copy of the statement can be found at http://legislation.govt.nz/disclosure.aspx?type=bill&subtype=government&year=2026&no=322 REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment produced a regulatory impact statement on 10 February 2026 to help inform the main policy decisions taken by the Government relating to the contents of this Bill. A copy of this regulatory impact statement can be found at— https://www.mbie.govt.nz/document-library/search?type[79]=79 https://www.regulation.govt.nz/our-work/regulatory-impact-statements/ CLAUSE BY CLAUSE ANALYSIS Clause 1 is the Title clause. Clause 2 is the commencement clause. The Bill will come into force on the day after Royal assent. Clause 3 identifies the Gas Act 1992 (the Act ) as the Act being amended by the Bill. MAIN AMENDMENTS TO PRINCIPAL ACT Clause 4 inserts new sections 56AA and 56AAB into the Act. Those sections— empower the Governor-General to make regulations requiring an industry participant or a consumer (other than a domestic consumer) to disclose gas markets information (such as petroleum reserves, forecasts of supply or demand, and risks to security of gas supply) to the industry body or the Secretary (or both), and to prescribe matters relating to that disclosure. Regulations may be made for 1 or more of the following purposes: to help industry participants or consumers (other than domestic consumers) (or both) to make informed decisions: to assist the Government in overseeing, monitoring, or regulating any gas market: to assist in the co-regulation of the gas industry by the Government and the industry body; and allow the industry body or the Secretary (or both) to publish the gas markets information that is disclosed to them (or any analysis or summary of that information) if the industry body or Secretary is satisfied that publishing the information is necessary or desirable for 1 or more of those purposes (for example, to help industry participants or consumers (other than domestic consumers) (or both) to make informed decisions). RELATED AMENDMENTS TO PRINCIPAL ACT Clause 5 makes the related amendments to the principal Act as set out in the Schedule . The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows: 1 Title This Act is the Gas (Market Transparency) Amendment Act 2026 . 2 Commencement This Act comes into force on the day after Royal assent. 3 Principal Act This Act amends the Gas Act 1992. 4 New sections 56AA and 56AAB and cross-heading inserted After section 56A, insert: Regulations—Disclosure of market information to industry body or Secretary 56AA Regulations relating to disclosure of market information to industry body or Secretary 1 The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes: a requiring an industry participant or a consumer (other than a domestic consumer) to disclose information about gas markets ( gas markets information ) to the industry body or the Secretary (or both), including, for example, any of the following to the extent that it relates to gas markets: i petroleum reserves and resources within the meaning of the Petroleum Resources Management System: ii forecasts of supply or demand: iii information about how much gas has been supplied or is being supplied to consumers: iv information about any risks to security of supply, including outages: v information about agreements to trade gas, including volumes traded, prices, parties to the agreement, and duration of the agreement: vi information about an industry participant or a consumer (other than a domestic consumer) that has, or may have, a significant effect on other industry participants or consumers: vii information to help other industry participants or consumers (other than domestic consumers) to make informed decisions in connection with the gas markets: b prescribing the circumstances in which gas markets information must be disclosed to the industry body or the Secretary (or both) (for example, when requested, at a specified time, or on the occurrence of a specified event): c prescribing the form and manner in which gas markets information must be disclosed to the industry body or the Secretary (or both): d prescribing the information that must be recorded and retained about any gas markets information, including the methodologies that must be applied in recording the information: e requiring the contents of gas markets information to be independently assessed for accuracy and certified by a person who is approved by the industry body or the Secretary (or both) (in the prescribed manner, if any). 2 The Minister may recommend any regulations to require the disclosure of information under this section only if the Minister is satisfied that the disclosure is necessary or desirable for 1 or more of the following purposes: a to help industry participants or consumers (other than domestic consumers) (or both) to make informed decisions: b to assist the Government in overseeing, monitoring, or regulating any gas market: c to assist in the co-regulation of the gas industry by the Government and the industry body. 3 In this section, domestic consumer , industry body , and industry participant have the meanings set out in section 43D. 4 In this section, Petroleum Resources Management System means the system of that name developed and published by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and available on the Society’s Internet site. 5 Nothing in section 43F, 43G, or 55 limits this section. 6 Regulations made under this section are secondary legislation ( see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements). 56AAB Industry body or Secretary may publish information The industry body or the Secretary (or both) may publish any information disclosed under regulations made under section 56AA (or any analysis or summary of that information) if the industry body or Secretary is satisfied that publishing the information is necessary or desirable for 1 or more of the purposes set out in section 56AA(2)(a) to (c) . 5 Related amendments to principal Act Amend the provisions specified in the Schedule as set out in that schedule. Related amendments to principal Act In section 43F(4), after section 43G , insert , 55, or 56AA . After section 43G(2), insert: 2A Nothing in section 43F, 55, or 56AA limits this section. After section 55(2), insert: 2A Nothing in section 43F, 43G, or 56AA limits this section. In section 57(1)(a), replace requirements prescribed in regulations made under section 55 with or other requirements prescribed in regulations made under section 55 or 56AA . In section 57(2), after section 56 , insert or 56AA . In section 57A, replace 54 or 55 with 54, 55, or 56AA .