The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme (GGAS) imposes mandatory greenhouse gas benchmarks on all holders of NSW electricity retail licenses, electricity generators prescribed by the regulations that supply directly to retail customers, and market customers which take their electricity supply directly from the National Electricity Market and have an electricity load that is classified as a market load with the National Electricity Market Management Company (NEMMCO). These are mandatory benchmark participants.

GGAS also allows large customers with electricity loads greater than 100 GWh or people carrying out State significant development, as designated by the Minister for Planning under the NSW planning legislation, to elect to manage their own greenhouse gas benchmarks. These are elective benchmark participants.

A large customer is defined as a customer, other than a retail supplier, that on its own or together with certain related entities has an electricity load within NSW of over 100 GWh per annum at one site or multiple sites owned or occupied by the customer, as long as one of the sites uses over 50 GWh per annum. Parliament has passed amendments to the Act which allow a related entity of a customer who satisfies the electricity usage thresholds to also be treated as a large customer. Related entities include related bodies corporate, a trustee or beneficiary of a trust, and joint venture parties. Regulations reflecting these amendments commenced on 7 October 2005. Elections covering multiple sites may include sites owned or occupied by bodies corporate related to the large customer.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) recommends that parties wishing to lodge an election contact IPART beforehand to discuss their particular circumstances.

A party wishing to elect to manage a benchmark must submit an Election Form to IPART by 31 August (or a later date approved by IPART) to elect for the following calendar year. Once the Election Form is submitted, IPART will assess whether the applicant meets the requirements for election. This assessment will include checking the site locations and electricity loads with retail suppliers.

IPART will give written notice of acceptance to the applicant and retailers that supply electricity to the applicant.

Each election period is for calendar years from 1 January to 31 December. Applicants may elect for multiple years. Once an election is accepted, it remains in force for the duration specified in the notice of acceptance.

However, a benchmark participant who has elected for multiple years may discontinue the election for future years by giving IPART at least six months notice, ie no later than 31 August in the year prior to when the discontinuance is to take effect.

An elective benchmark participant wanting to add sites to an election that has previously been approved for multiple years needs to complete an Election Form nominating the additional sites to be included in the election and lodge the form with IPART by the date specified for the next compliance year.

Elective participants that qualify as large customers may also carry out non-electricity related greenhouse gas emission abatement activities under the Large User Abatement Certificate Rule.

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