Introduction of new fees and upfront payment

What is Happening?

Essential Energy will be introducing fees for some Low Voltage Connection Applications. From 2 May 2022, new charges will be applied to certain services where we are required by Australian Energy Regulator (AER) to charge for these services. These charges include:

• Fees for connection enquiries based on the estimated effort to complete (noting not all enquiries will be charged a fee)
• Additional fees to some connection applications where detailed engineering assessments (1% of applications) or power quality studies are required (0.1% of all applications a year)
• Incomplete information fee applied to applications that are submitted without the required information or attachments/supporting information included.
• We are continuing the transition to upfront payments of high volume and low value ANS charges.

The fees can be found in the table below:

The above table of Ancillary Network Service and Amounts are as per the Price Schedule for Ancillary Network Services 1 July 2021. These Network Service changes will move to upfront payment via the secure online payment gateway. 

“User Pays” Principle 

These fees cover the costs of services that we already provide and are expected to charge for under our agreement with the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). 

Under the Regulatory Framework, we need to recover those costs from the specific customers requiring the service.  

What do you need to do? 

1. Accredited Service Providers, Authorised Persons and Electrical Contractors should consider pricing changes when preparing quotations for customers regarding future work. 
2. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation. 

Further Information 

If you need further information, please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au.