This Government bill amends the Gas Act 1992 to insert a new regulation-making power aimed at improving the information available to the Government and the gas industry. The power would allow regulations requiring industry participants to disclose relevant market information to the chief executive of MBIE or to the Gas Industry Company Limited, to facilitate collection and publication of information about the gas market and address key information gaps. It has since passed into law as the Gas (Market Transparency) Amendment Act 2026.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, first reading, second reading, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
This bill inserts a new regulation-making power into the Gas Act 1992 allowing the Government to require gas industry participants to disclose relevant market information to the chief executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment or to the Gas Industry Company. The stated aim is to close gaps where information about the gas market is incomplete or out of date, so that the Government can monitor the market and participants can make more efficient decisions, with a subset of the information to be published.
Supporters argue that better, timelier market information supports efficient decisions and sound policy at a time of change in the gas sector. Others may weigh the compliance burden of new disclosure obligations on industry participants and how commercially sensitive information is protected in what is collected and published.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.