You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
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
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
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
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
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
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
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.
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
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
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
What is Happening?
Essential Energy recognises the impact that the decision to cancel planned work may have on ASP businesses. These decisions were made with consideration of the available research and recommendations on COVID-19, including from the Commonwealth and NSW Governments and health authorities.
We have dedicated resources who are tasked with constantly reviewing the business response to COVID-19 and we are committed to complying with advice from all levels of Government, which is frequently changing to adapt with the circumstances. Our focus remains on the health and well-being of our employees, the community, our contractors and suppliers, and particularly on limiting the spread of the virus to vulnerable groups.
We can confirm that a risk management framework has now been developed which will allow us to identify how planned outage work may proceed with the inclusion of additional control measures. It should be noted that we need to balance the potential impact of any planned outage on our customers, especially those who are vulnerable, on life support, or in self-isolation.
We will provide more detail around the framework as soon as possible.
What you need to do?
- Talk with your Network Assurance Facilitator (NAF) in your area.
- Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.
Further Information
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
What is Happening?
As an employer of more than 3,000 people located throughout the State delivering critical services to communities across NSW, it is vital that Essential Energy responds effectively to the unfolding Coronavirus (COVID19) crisis.
Essential Energy has enacted its Pandemic Management Plan and established a Pandemic Preparedness Team (PPT) to proactively manage our organisational response.
The PPT, made up of representatives from across our business, is meeting daily and will continue to meet throughout the crisis as it unfolds. The PPT is continually monitoring and assessing COVID-19 developments and recommendations, including from the Commonwealth and NSW governments, in order to shape an effective business response.
This has led us to enact some specific control measures for our frontline staff, office-based workers and across the network.
As part of our response to minimise the impact and spread of COVID-19, Essential Energy is suspending all planned outages, including those that involve ASP work, from Wednesday 18 March 2020, until Friday, 17 April 2020.
There may be further changes beyond these dates as this pandemic progresses.
As you would appreciate, planned outage work often involves teams from multiple sites or frontline employees working with ASPs. This work is being suspended to minimise the potential for COVID-19 transmission amongst employees, contractors and the community in line with recommendations for social distancing.
We understand these changes may be difficult to accommodate, but we assure you we have not made his decision lightly. Ultimately, we have a responsibility to keep a safe and reliable power supply on for our customers across regional, rural and remote NSW, especially at a time where different members of the community may need to self-isolate. Regrettably, we have concluded that that these arrangements are necessary to enable us to continue to meet our obligations.
Text messages will be sent out to affected ASPs today informing them of the situation. We will reschedule all outages after consultation with our ASP partners when possible.
Essential Energy is committed to doing everything we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The safety of our people and the community is our highest priority, and we believe that the steps we have taken today are necessary in these unprecedented times.
We thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.
What you need to do?
- Talk with your Network Assurance Facilitator (NAF) in your area, relating to outages that have been cancelled.
- Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.
Further Information
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
Background
Essential Energy launched the Level 1 ASP Authorisation Agreement on 5 February 2020.
From 1 September 2020, Level 1 ASP companies or entities will be required to enter a Level 1 ASP Authorisation Agreement with Essential Energy to continue to undertake and / or facilitate contestable works on or near our electricity distribution network.
To help you to understand more about the agreement we have created a short video with more information.
What do you need to do?
- Watch the video on Level 1 ASP Authorisation Agreement available on Essential Engagement/documents
- Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation
Further Information
If you need further information, please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
Essential Energy are experiencing an influx of Design and Certification requests, which have resulted in a
backlog.
We are putting plans in place to address the backlog and process your
requests as soon as possible.
In the meantime, there will be a slight delay in processing Design and
Certification requests. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Further Information
If you need further information,
please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au
You cannot leave comment in this blogpost unless you are a part of the project panel.
What is happening
Last week one
of Essential Energy’s mailing lists was targeted by a phishing email with a PDF link that was malware. We would like to remind our ASP partners to be vigilant for these emails and
maintain your cyber security.
A
phishing email is a fraudulent attempt to obtain your sensitive information by
a sender disguising themselves as a trustworthy entity.
If you receive a phishing email please take the following actions:
- Delete the email
- Do not open it and do not click on any links
- If you click on a suspicious link, we recommend you change all
your passwords
- Do not forward the email
Further Information
If you need further information,
please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au
