Our Gas Distribution Network

Our gas network delivers energy today to nearly 850,000 homes, businesses, hospitals, schools and other facilities in western Melbourne, Geelong and parts of western Victoria. We are one of three gas distribution businesses in Victoria. You cannot choose your gas distributor - it is assigned to you depending on the area where you live.

Gas is an essential service in Victoria and it will be for decades to come. Our first priority is to continue supplying safe and reliable gas to our customers in Western Victoria. Our responsibilities include managing the reliability of your gas supply (and the frequency and duration of gas outages), gas pipeline safety (up to your meter), metering services and connecting newly built properties to the gas network.

At the same time, household, business, and industrial energy preferences and requirements are changing through the energy transition, and we are planning for how our gas network can best support our customers and the Victorian energy system.

Gas Access Arrangement Review 2028-33

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) is responsible for regulating Australian gas distribution, which falls under a national framework.

Every five years, gas distributors across Victoria must submit a draft plan to the AER for the next five-year regulatory period, with the next period covering 1 July 2028 to 30 June 2033. This plan outlines the services we will offer customers, the costs to deliver those services, and the plan for how we will use money collected via the distribution charge on customers’ bills. This process is known as the Gas Access Arrangement Review (GAAR).

Customer and Stakeholder Engagement

Our overarching objective is to develop a Proposal that reflects consumer needs, is supported by stakeholders and is accepted by the AER.

We are seeking input from customers and stakeholders to help us make informed plans for the AusNet gas network in 2028-33. Through this engagement, we aim to understand the values, preferences and long-term interests of our customers.

Our engagement approach is designed to give customers and stakeholders a genuine opportunity to shape our Proposal and satisfy the AER’s requirements, outlined in its Better Resets Handbook.

We have been engaging continuously since our last GAAR (2023-28) process and our 2028-33 GAAR engagement looks to build on the insights gained since the end of that process. This engagement includes the process we undertook for our recent Variation Proposal to amend our 2023-28 Access Arrangement. Our plan for engaging customers and stakeholders through the GAAR 2028-33 process is detailed below. We are currently seeking feedback on the plan and accepting expressions of interest for two panels - the GAAR Development Panel and the Gas Stakeholder Roundtable.

Our engagement model has been designed to enable a broad range of customer representatives and stakeholders to participate and have their say in shaping our Proposal, with clearly defined pathways for inputs to be reconciled to best reflect customer preferences.

Our engagement model uses a range of channels, connecting customers and stakeholders to topics and engagement methods that they are suitable for and of interest to them.

To support the development of our Proposal, we are establishing the GAAR Development Panel (GDP), which will represent AusNet customers throughout the GAAR 2028-33 process. The GDP is an overarching governance group overseeing engagement and providing guidance and advice to shape a Proposal that aligns with customers’ preferences. The GDP will engage in deep, focussed discussions on complex topics that are most significant to the Proposal. It may act as a decision-making forum on agreed topics.

The purpose of the GDP is to work constructively with AusNet to shape a Proposal that:

• Reflects customers’ interests, and
• They can support.

Its role is to support AusNet to achieve the overarching engagement objective: to develop a Proposal that reflects consumer needs, is supported by stakeholders and is accepted by the AER.

To achieve this the GDP will:

1. Collaborate with AusNet to design and execute an inclusive and effective engagement program
2. Support AusNet to shape a Proposal in a dynamic, complex and uncertain context
3. Represent customers' interests on topics requiring expert knowledge.

Those who are interested in joining the GAAR Development Panel are invited to apply for the following position/s:

• One GAAR Development Panel Chair, and
• Up to five GAAR Development Panel members.

Please use the form on the right of this page to submit your application by Monday 15 December 2025.

Brief interviews with shortlisted applicants will be held in early January 2026.

For more information, please refer to the GAAR Development Panel Terms of Reference.

The Gas Stakeholder Roundtable is an evolution of the Roundtable we engaged with on our 2023-28 Proposal and Variation Proposal. This group last met in April 2025. This forum is designed to gather insights and feedback on various aspects of our Proposal, as well as keep stakeholders informed throughout the process.

The purpose of the Gas Stakeholder Roundtable is:

A forum for hearing diverse stakeholder perspectives on key topics. It provides an opportunity for the many stakeholders interested in gas matters to engage on key topics of interest to them. The Roundtable also provides continuity from the previous two GAAR engagement processes and helps keep AusNet accountable.

Feedback from the Roundtable will be presented back to the GAAR Development Panel for further consideration and discussion. The Roundtable is an advisory group, not a decision-making group, but its insights and advice will be heavily relied upon by the GDP.

Those interested in joining the Roundtable are invited to express their interest.

Please submit your expression of interest to join the Roundtable via the online form above.

For more information, please refer to the Gas Stakeholder Roundtable Terms of Reference.