Level 3 ASPs

As part of its continuous improvement program, Essential Energy is introducing new file format and naming standards for Level 3 ASPs. These new standards will improve the user experience and support future projects across the business by providing a consistent approach and making documents easily identifiable for users.

From 11 May 2020, when submitting documents to Essential Energy for Contestable Works projects, you will need to ensure they comply with the new standard as outlined in the Briefing document located on the Document Library and Essential Engagement.

What do you need to do?

1. Review the Briefing document ‘20200508 - Level 3 ASP Document Naming Standards’ located on the Document Library.
2. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

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

The new BetterConnect portal is going live on 25 May 2020.

As you know, we have been working on a new portal called BetterConnect. This is part of Essential Energy’s ongoing continuous improvement initiatives which aim to make processes for our customers more efficient, and make it easier to do business with us.

All Level 3 ASPs and their nominated employees will be required to use the portal from 25 May 2020, including the new enquiries channel.

Benefits

The new portal has been developed in collaboration with a Reference Group of 12 Level 3 ASPs working closely with us since the inception of the project. It focuses on more efficient interactions between L3 ASPs and Essential Energy, which in this instance means:

• No more email interactions for submissions and project creations
• Full electronic submission and online forms for:
  • Design Information requests
  • Asset Label requests
  • Notice of Arrangement Only requests
  • Design Submission Requests
  • Easements Only Requests
  • Enquiries (General, Design and Closed Project Enquires)
• Instant visibility to Essential Energy when an enquiry or case has been submitted
• Real time visibility to Level 3 ASPS of the current status of their projects.

Please remember, we are working towards automating the end-to-end connections process, and this is just the first step.

It’s your tool – so have your say

In recent weeks, our Reference Group has been using the portal in a testing environment. This allows them to provide feedback on the functionality so we can continue to improve it.

Of course, continuous improvement means that we will keep looking at ways to make things easier and more efficient for all of us, so your feedback is encouraged. This tool is currently a minimum viable product, which means we will continue to develop and make improvements to it– so please, don’t hesitate to send in your feedback and suggestions.

Support for you

Our people are ready to support you if you have any issues.

The portal has a comments field built into it, and we ask you to use this as your first point of call. This allows all the information to be stored in one place and can be accessed readily throughout your project. It also means you are not relying on a single resource on our end to keep your project moving along.

The live portal will be a new tool for Essential Energy staff as well, so will be learning new ways of working together.

We’d like to thank everyone who has worked with us to get this project live for their invaluable assistance and also to those who have provided their details for access to the portal. If you haven’t done this already, please contact betterconnect.project@essentialenergy.com.au for more information.

We look forward to continuing to work with our customers on further improvements which will benefit both you, and us.

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 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic poses an unprecedented global and national health crisis.

Essential Energy understands that, due to necessary restrictions imposed by response to this pandemic, 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, reminder letters 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

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

What is happening?

Essential Energy have updated our Easement Documentation, which are available on the document library, all new documentation must be used from 1 May 2020.

What has changed?

The Submission of Easement Documentation CEOF9091 form has been amended as follows:

• CEOF9091 was previously Easements: Advice for Suitability of Easement Documentation, it is now called Submission of Easement Documents
• The form may now be submitted by the Customer or any of the Customer’s representatives with the easement documents.
• Amended to include an acknowledgement that costs will be incurred by submitting the easement documents. The party submitting the form will be responsible for the costs if the Customer does not pay them.
• The checklists previously attached to the form have been removed and are now available on our website Easements. Rather than completing the checklist the submission of the form will be taken to confirm the documents comply with the items in the checklist.

Alternative to Bank Guarantee in exceptional circumstances

Recognising that in some instances Customers are unable to obtain a Bank Guarantee in accordance with Essential Energy’s requirements, Essential Energy has developed an alternative allowing cash to be provided instead. In the alternative, a Stakeholder Deed can be used to enable the funds (equivalent to the Bank Guarantee amount) to be held in the trust account of Essential Energy’s Solicitor. This option will only be available in exceptional circumstances and is likely to be more expensive then the Bank Guarantee. The Customer will be responsible for all costs in connection with the Stakeholder Deed.

Information Sheet – Creation of Easement Deeds CEOF6274a

Has been amended to include provision for a Stakeholder Deed and to amend the CEOF9091 requirements.

Customer Deeds CEOF6274b and CEOF6274d

Have been amended to include provision for a Stakeholder Deed.

The Easement Requirements CEOP8046 has been amended as follows:

• includes the CEOF9091 requirements
• include provision for Section 138 Roads consent over Crown roads
• requires Essential Energy approval to encroachments on statutory easements
• expand and update the requirements for State Forests.

When will the changes be implemented?

Essential Energy will continue to accept the current versions of the above forms up to and including 30 April 2020. You can start using the new forms immediately.

What do you need to do?

1. Review and download the latest versions of these documents located on Essential Energy’s Document Library.
2. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

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

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