The Victorian Energy Networks Corporation (VENCorp) was a

Victorian State Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

-owned entity established on 11 December 1997 responsible for the efficient operation of

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

and

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

industries in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia, within Victoria's privatised energy industries. It was funded by energy industry participants.

Functions

VENCorp had major operational, planning and development roles for both gas and electricity, the key being: * independent system operator for the Victorian gas transmission network * manager and developer of the Victorian wholesale gas

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

* system planner providing planning services for the gas and electricity industries.

History

Since the 1950s, the Gas and Fuel Corporation was a government-owned monopoly supplier of household gas in Victoria. In 1965,

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

was discovered in

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

, and the Corporation undertook a conversion program, which took over 20-months ending in December 1970, to convert around one million appliances to operate on natural gas. In July 1994, the Gas and Fuel Corporation was dis-aggregated into three divisions: gas distributor and retail companies, a gas transmission company and an independent market operator, VENCorp. The Kennett Government subsequently

privatised Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation wh ...

the gas distribution, retail and transmission divisions, along with the

State Electricity Commission of Victoria The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SEC, SECV or ECV) is a government-owned electricity company in Victoria, Australia. Originally established to generate electricity from the state's reserves of brown coal, the SEC gradually monopoli ...

, Victoria's main electricity utility. VENCorp remained a government entity though funded by energy industry participants. VENCorp took over the electricity transmission planning function of the Victorian Power Exchange when it was wound up in 1998, after the establishment of NEMMCO and the commencement of the

National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale ele ...

. The functions of VENCorp were assumed by the

Australian Energy Market Operator The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) performs an array of gas and electricity market, operational, development and planning functions. It manages the National Electricity Market (NEM), the Wholesale Electricity Market (WA) (WEM) and the ...

, which commenced operations on 1 July 2009, and VENCorp was wound up.

References

External links

Energy Safe Victoria Website
Renewable resource companies established in 1997 Energy companies established in 1997 Energy companies disestablished in 2009 Defunct electric power companies of Australia Energy in Victoria (state) Companies based in Victoria (state) Defunct government-owned companies of Australia Australian companies established in 1997 Renewable resource companies disestablished in 2009 Australian companies disestablished in 2009 {{Energy-company-stub

Functions

History

See also

References

External links