As part of Essential Energy’s commitment to continuous improvement, we are seeking feedback from our customers and business partners about how easy we are to do business with.

Feedback received from ASPs and Electrical Contractors to date has assisted us in ensuring that the capabilities and quality of our products and services are meeting your expectations now and into the future.

Over the next few weeks, a representative from Woolcott Research & Engagement may contact you to participate in a survey that will assess your satisfaction with our service delivery and operational performance. Your input is needed to help Essential Energy optimise customer outcomes and ensure our operations are aligned to your needs.

Further Information

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

Essential Energy launched our Level 1 ASP Authorisation Agreement on 5 February 2020. Thank you to those ASPs who have submitted applications.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues and necessary restrictions are in place to minimise its spread, we want to ensure the wellbeing of our ASP partners. As such, we are deferring the due date for entering into the Level 1 ASP Authorisation Agreement from 1 September 2020 to 1 December 2020.

We are planning on sending each Level 1 company / entity authorised to work on our network an email with the Level 1 Authorisation Agreement, application for Authorisation and the bank guarantee value in August/September 2020.

What do you need to do?

Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further information

If you have any questions please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au.

What is happening?

The Electrical Safety Office (ESO) has completed a minor review and update of CEOP8030 Electrical Safety Rules that is now available on Essential Energy’s Document Library as Issue 17. Details of the changes are listed in the revisions section of the document.

What do you need to do?

Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

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

What is changing?

Essential Energy is committed to continually improving our services to Accredited Service Providers (ASPs). As part of these improvements, under our BetterConnect Program, we will be changing the way we provide Design Information.

If you require a map of Essential Energy’s network for planning purposes relating to new a network extension or a network alteration, you can request this through Essential Energy’s website – Request Overhead Electricity Map.

If you require any additional network information, please submit a Constable Work Design Information Application (CEOF6010) to contestableworks@essentialenergy.com.au and a Design Information Pack will be provided.

From 1 May 2020 Essential Energy’s Technical Enquiries team will be focusing on processing LV connection applications and providing technical advice to customers.

What do you need to do?

1. Review the above and follow the process for Design Information Requests
2. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation

Further Information

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

What is Happening?

From 1 July 2019, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) introduced new regulatory charges for Ancillary Network Services. As an Accredited Service Provider (ASP), Authorised Person (AUP) or Electrical Contractor (EC), you would be aware of the current Ancillary Network Services charges applicable to services you provide to your customers.

Effective 1 July 2020, there will be a price increase of approximately 2.6 per cent on all Ancillary Network Services.

You can read more about Essential Energy’s draft pricing for Ancillary Network on our website at: Essential Energy > Our Network > Network Pricing and Regulatory report > Network Pricing. Additional information will be made available once the 2020-21 pricing schedules have been finalised and approved by the AER.

What do you need to do?

1. Review the 2020-21 ‘draft’ Pricing Schedules for Ancillary Network Services available on the Essential Energy website
2. Accredited Service Providers, Authorised Persons and Electrical Contractors should consider pricing changes when preparing quotations for customers regarding future work
3. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

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

The situation with Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an unprecedented global and national health crisis.

As mentioned previously, Essential Energy has enacted its Pandemic Management Plan and established a Pandemic Preparedness Team (PPT) to proactively manage our organisational response.

To stop the spread of COVID-19 a risk assessment is being undertaken before any inspections can commence. As a result, some sites are not able to be inspected due to social distancing.

In lieu of a Network Assurance Facilitator attending your site, we are requesting that you submit a comprehensive selection of photos for your project milestones.

Images would include, for example; trenching, trenching depths (tape measure in photographs), trenching within alignments relative to the boundary pegs, bedding sand, cable laying, conduit installation, jointing if applicable, backfilling, hard tape installation depths and correct coverage, soft tape installation depth and correct coverage, earthing layouts and test results and anything that may not be visible for an inspection at a later date.

The provision of the photos will allow work to progress on infrastructure while ensuring quality of assets being gifted to Essential Energy and avoiding potential delays.

If you have any questions or are unsure of what photographs will be required for your project, please contact your local Network Assurance Facilitator (NAF or SNAF). They are here to help you.

Thank you for your understanding and willingness to work with us at this time.

What do you need to do?

Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

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

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to pose an unprecedented global and national health crisis.

As it continues Essential Energy understands that, due to necessary restrictions put in place to minimise the spread of COVID-19, some ASPs are experiencing limitation or loss of business and associated financial difficulties.

To help those experiencing difficulties, Essential Energy is offering deferral of payment options for network fees and materials for Level 1 and 3 ASPs, including:

• extending the due date on any new invoices by 60 days, effective immediately,
• stopping the credit cycle, and sending of reminder and final letters up until 31 July 2020, and
• where required, offering ASPs payment plans.

We will continue to work with you during this pandemic to protect the health and wellbeing of our employees, our ASP partners and the communities we serve.

What do you need to do?

Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

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

What is happening?

The Electrical Safety Office recently completed a review of Operational Procedure: CEOP2377 Equipotential and Personal Protective Bonding.

Updates now incorporate the recent amendments made to CEOP8030 Electrical Safety Rules and other feedback received from within the business.

Details of these updates are listed within section 7.0 of CEOP2377 issue 6, now available on Essential Energy’s Document Library.

Safety Brief 905 - CEOP2377 Equipotential and Personal Protective Bonding Issue 6 is being shared for your information and can be accessed from Essential Energy’s Document Library or Essential Engagement.

What you need to do?

Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation

For Further information

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

The situation with Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an unprecedented global and national health crisis.

As mentioned previously, Essential Energy has enacted its Pandemic Management Plan and established a Pandemic Preparedness Team (PPT) to proactively manage our organisational response.

To assist Essential Energy’s response to the COVID-19 crisis we have developed critical controls to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19 when interacting with third party associates in warehouse and store locations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessary controls put in place may limit Essential Energys warehouses’ ability to provide sales service to Accredited Service Providers. This will present the following constraints on the sales process:

• Order Processing: please provide the outage date when placing orders for Planned Outages which are deemed High Priority – a member of our External Sales team will contact you to discuss restrictions prior to processing the order.
• Cancelled Orders: if an outage is cancelled you will be unable to return products to Essential Energy’s warehouses.
• Quotes: will be processed as normal, lead time may not be available for items not in stock, this will depend on the supplier and the precautions they have in place for supplying of items. We can’t guarantee the shipments from our suppliers.
• Direct Delivery Orders/ Drop Ship Orders: will be placed on supplier’s, with the delivery date confirmed when the order is acknowledged by the supplier. This will depend on the supplier and the precautions they have in place for supplying of items under COVID-19.
• Pick-up from Warehouse Locations: protocol must be followed strictly - saved under documents on Essential Engagement.

Due of the constraints above we encourage our ASP Partners to engage their upstream suppliers directly for material orders.

If you require any further information or assistance, please email external.sales@essentialenergy.com.au.

What is Happening?

As an organisation delivering critical services to communities across NSW and employing thousands of people across the State, it is crucial for rural, regional and remote NSW that Essential Energy responds effectively to COVID-19.

Essential Energy has enacted its Pandemic Management Plan and established a Pandemic Preparedness Team (PPT) to proactively manage our organisational response.

In line with our Pandemic Management Plan, the objectives guiding Essential Energy’s ongoing response are to:

• Protect the health and wellbeing of Essential Energy employees, contractors, suppliers and the community;
• Minimise the risk of Essential Energy being a source of infection for employees and the broader community; and
• Reduce the risk of operational disruption to Essential Energy and Essential Water.

To ensure appropriate social distancing is maintained many of Essential Energy’s employees are working from home, where operationally possible, this includes members of the Asset Management and Engineering division.

The Design and Certification team will be transitioning to working from home over the coming days. Throughout the next few weeks, as we continue to implement our measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, we ask you to please correspond with the individual team members via the group email address contestableworks@essentialenergy.com.au, or, directly with the team via their individual email.

The Contestable Connections team are also beginning to work from home and should be contacted via their individual email.

At this stage the Technical Enquiries team remain available via phone on the enquiries number.

We assure you that the team will be doing their best to ensure there is minimal impact on Contestable Works, and will continue to keep you updated on any further changes as the pandemic continues.

Thank you for your understanding.

What do you need to do?

Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation

Further Information

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