Australian energy markets, like EU markets, have been administratively led over recent decades to create more competitive markets. There have been many inquiries and reports by Australian government agencies on regulatory, economic and competition law aspects of energy markets. A recent controversial report by the competition agency recommends increased price regulation of natural gas pipelines on the grounds, not of enhancing competition, but of ameliorating market power of pipeline operators, to create perceived efficiency benefits in downstream and upstream markets. The change in emphasis from ‘competition’ to ‘efficiency’ raises important issues for the energy sector and competition law generally in Australia because market power is traditionally assessed by reference to structural analysis, and the institutional framework generally limits the jurisdiction of Australian courts to ‘competition’ assessment while conferring jurisdiction on administrative agencies to assess ‘efficiency’. This article discusses the competition law implications of these recent developments for the energy sector, particularly natural gas, with respect to market power and access to facilities, having regard to EU and US third-party access regimes.

中文翻译：

---

改变目标：澳大利亚竞争法中影响能源部门的当前问题

近几十年来，澳大利亚能源市场与欧盟市场一样，在行政方面一直受到行政领导，以创造更具竞争力的市场。澳大利亚政府机构就能源市场的监管、经济和竞争法方面进行了许多询问和报告。竞争管理机构最近的一份有争议的报告建议加强对天然气管道的价格监管，其理由不是为了加强竞争，而是为了改善管道运营商的市场力量，以在下游和上游市场创造明显的效率收益。重点从“竞争”到“效率”的转变为澳大利亚的能源部门和竞争法提出了重要问题，因为市场力量传统上是通过参考结构分析来评估的，制度框架通常将澳大利亚法院的管辖权限制在“竞争”评估上，同时赋予行政机构评估“效率”的管辖权。本文在考虑欧盟和美国第三方准入制度的情况下，讨论了这些最新发展对能源部门（尤其是天然气）在市场支配力和设施准入方面的竞争法影响。