Participatory and Procedural Decisions

When a statement of concern is filed following an application, we decide whether a hearing is needed. If a hearing is needed, we issue a notice of hearing.

Before the hearing, the hearing panel must

• consider any requests to participate in the hearing, and
• decide on the nature and scope of participation for the hearing participants.

When we receive a request to appeal of one of our decisions, we must decide whether to grant all or part of the request. Formerly known as standing decisions, we now call these kinds of decisions, participation decisions.

The written participation decision sets out our reasons for our decision. We apply sections related to the holding of hearings or regulatory appeals in the Responsible Energy Development Act, among other rules and regulations.

Procedural Decisions 

Often, we must make procedural decisions that will determine the course of a proceeding or how the information is filed. Examples of these procedural decisions include

• issuing confidentiality orders,
• setting or extending deadlines to file information, and
• establishing the scope of issues to be discussed in the hearing.

The principles of fairness and natural justice apply to all AER proceedings. When making procedural decisions, we apply the Alberta Energy Regulator Rules of Practice.