RELIABILITY OF ELECTRICAL SUPPLY

CUSTOMER RIGHTS

(this page last altered 17 February 2003)

The Essential Service Commission’s Distribution Code contains provision for penalties to apply for poor service to customers in a number areas.

• Appointments. If a distributor makes an appointment with a customer and is more than 15 minutes late for the appointment the distributor must pay the customer $20.
• Failure to supply. When a distributor does not supply electricity to a customers supply address on the day agreed with the customer, the distributor must pay to the customer $50 for each day that it is late up to a maximum of $250.
• Supply restoration and low reliability payments. A distributor must make a supply restoration payment of $80 to each customer for each interruption to the supply of electricity to the customers supply address which is not restored within 12 hours of the interruption first starting. Furthermore a distributor must make a low reliability payment of $80 to any customers supplied through either long or short rural feeders experience more than 15 interruptions in a calendar year, all other customers are entitled to the payment if the experience more than

9 interruptions in a calendar year.

The Customer Energy Coalition is currently undertaking analysis in regard to the impact of ‘incentive’ regulation of reliability of supply. The CEC has a concern that incentive regulation provides an incentive to down grade operations and maintenance in favour of capital expenditure (as the size of the asset base forms the basis of the formulae determining the distributors revenue allowance). In addition the current performance reporting is largely self-reporting and does not offset the incentive to cut O&M. The research is funded by the Consumer Utility Advocacy Centre (CUAC).

E-mail us on eaginfo@vicnet.net.au if you have any queries regarding quality of supply or reliability.