Origin Energy Electricity Ltd & Anor v Queensland Competition Authority & Anor

The applicants challenged the validity of a price determination for the tariff year 2012-2013 made under the Electricity Act 1994 by the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) pursuant to a delegation by the Minister. In dismissing the application for a statutory order of review, Jackson J rejected the challenge to the validity of the delegation and rejected an argument that the QCA was bound to take into account the costs of generation of electricity as the actual costs of making, producing or supplying customer retail services, because the costs of generation of electricity, per se, are not those actual costs. The necessary costs of hedging were to be taken into account but not the costs of power purchasing agreements.