Electricity: your entitlement to a reliable supply

Transcription

1 Electricity: your entitlement to a reliable supply

2 Guaranteed Service Level (GSL) payments explained A guide for Victorian electricity customers Despite the best efforts of Victoria s electricity distributors to maintain electricity supply, disruptions to supply can occur from time to time. If you have experienced repeated disruptions to your electricity supply, you may be entitled to a financial payment. Victoria s five electricity distributors (the owners of the electricity networks) are obliged to pay customers if electricity supply reliability does not meet a certain standard. On 1 January 2006, Victoria s Essential Services Commission (ESC) increased Guaranteed Service Level (GSL) payments for customers experiencing regular supply interruptions or where the electricity distributor does not meet specified customer standards. GSL payments apply to the cumulative amount of time off-supply, the number of sustained interruptions and the number of momentary interruptions, per calendar year. All residential and business customers are eligible to receive GSL payments should electricity supply and service standards fall below thresholds established by the ESC and monitored by your distributor. The GSL payments scheme is designed to address general services standards it is not a vehicle through which customers can seek compensation for damages. 1

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4 Payments for interruptions You will receive, as a minimum, a: $100 payment if you experience more than 20 hours of unplanned sustained interruptions (longer than one minute) in a calendar year, or $150 for more than 30 hours or $300 for more than 60 hours. $100 payment if you experience more than 10 unplanned sustained interruptions in a calendar year, or $150 for more than 15 interruptions or $300 for more than 30 unplanned sustained interruptions. $25 payment if you experience more than 24 momentary interruptions (up to one minute) in a year, or $35 for more than 36 momentary interruptions in a year. In some cases, customers may be eligible for payment under more than one of the above provisions. The above payment provisions exclude the impact of certain extreme events that are beyond the reasonable control of the distributors (e.g. major storms, natural disasters, failures of the statewide transmission system or insufficient generation available). These events are assessed, determined and published by the Essential Services Commission (ESC) as being excluded events. GSL payments also do not cover faults caused by a customer s damaged equipment blowing the mains fuse or interruptions caused by the tripping of a customer s faulty safety switch. Payments for interruptions are generally made in the three months following the year in which the electricity distributor did not meet specified customer standards. 3

5 Payments for poor service standards Electricity distributors also have a responsibility to customers to deliver reasonable standards of service. Under the Guaranteed Service Level payments scheme, you are entitled to the following payments: $20 if the distributor is more than 15 minutes late for an appointment. $50 per day late to a maximum of $250 if the distributor does not supply electricity to a customer s supply address on the day agreed. $10 if you report a faulty public light which is maintained by your distributor and that public light is not repaired within two business days of being notified, and you are the occupier of the immediately neighbouring residence or business. Where a distributor makes an appointment with you, the distributor must specify a range of time which is: no greater than two hours where you or your representative are required or choose to be in attendance, and no greater than one day where you or your representative are not required, or do not choose, to be in attendance. This does not apply where an alternative appointment time has been agreed to by you or your representative. Appointment times must be specified to you or your representative by no later than 5 pm on the day prior to the appointment. 4

6 How you receive a GSL payment If you are entitled to a Guaranteed Service Level payment, you will be paid directly by either your distributor or your electricity retailer (who sells you your electricity and sends your electricity bill). If you wish to check your entitlement to a GSL payment, you can contact the electricity distributor supplying your residence or business. The electricity distributor provides the poles-and-wires network through which electricity flows to houses and businesses. Your electricity distributor will be able to track your supply performance to your residence or business. Distributors can be contacted via the following telephone numbers: AGL (Melbourne s northern and inner western suburbs) CitiPower (Inner Melbourne) Powercor (Melbourne s western suburbs and western and north-western Victoria) SP AusNet (Melbourne s eastern suburbs and eastern and north-eastern Victoria) United Energy (Alinta) (Melbourne s south-eastern suburbs and Mornington Peninsula)

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8 If you are unsure of your electricity distributor, call your electricity retailer. If your distributor disputes your eligibility to a GSL payment, you are entitled to raise the complaint through the distributor s internal dispute resolution process. If your dispute is still not satisfactorily resolved by your distributor, you are entitled to raise the issue with the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria). The Ombudsman s task is to receive, investigate and facilitate the resolution of unresolved complaints involving consumers of energy and water services in Victoria. The Ombudsman can be contacted on

9 further information About the Essential Services Commission The Essential Services Commission, an independent statutory authority, is responsible for the economic regulation of Victoria s energy, water and other essential services. It was established by the Government of Victoria in 2002, under the Essential Services Commission Act The Commission aims to protect the community s interests in relation to cost, reliability and quality of supply, while ensuring a sustainable and competitive utility sector into the future. 8

10 Essential Services Commission Level 2, 35 Spring Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia Telephone or Facsimile Printed June 2006