Level 3 ASPs

What is happening?

The AER has approved Essential Energy’s new regulatory charges for Ancillary Network Services from 1 July 2021.

As an Accredited Service Provider (ASP), Authorised Person (AUP) or Electrical Contractor (EC), please use the new charges applicable to the services you provide when preparing quotations for work to be undertaken after 30 June 2021.

What do you need to do?

1. Review the 2021-22 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

You can read more about Essential Energy’s Ancillary Network Services pricing on our website at: Essential Energy > Our Network > Network Pricing and Regulatory report > Network.

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

What is happening?

From 24 May 2021, all new low voltage customer switchboards with ratings of more than 100A per phase must comply with AS/NZ 61439.

Non-compliant submissions for Essential Energy review of switchboards more than 100A will be returned for revision.

To ensure your compliance and avoid processing delays, please familiarise yourself with standard AS/NZ 61439.

What do you need to do?

1. Review the above key changes in AS/NZ 61439 and submit switchboards for review to: switchboard.review@essentialenergy.com.au.
2. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

If you need further information, please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au or contact your local Network Assurance Facilitator.

What is happening?

In July 2020 Essential Energy made a 3D model of our overhead network, construction libraries and LiDAR data available to Level 3 ASPs. This information is available to access for Accredited Service Providers who are registered 3A and/or 3B employees with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry & Environment. If this is you, then you have the option to request access through Neara – a third party an online platform for power line design.

Before access to Essential Energy’s 3D model on the Neara platform is granted you will need to be registered for the BetterConnect Portal. Access to the BetterConect Portal is free. If you do not have access to the BetterConnect Portal please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au, requesting registration to the BetterConnect Portal.

If you are already registered for the BetterConnect Portal please complete the ‘Access Request for Neara' form and submit to aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au. Once received your request this will be processed, and you will gain access.

Further Information

Further information on Neara and the 3D Model can be found on Essential Engagement, under Digital Asset Management.

Visit the Neara website - especially their support pages, for further information, FAQs, tutorials, troubleshooting and access to the community forums at: https://neara.com.

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

What is happening?

On 20 April 2021 Australian utility SaaS business Power Lines Pro has been rebranded and is now called Neara, for more information please read the media release located on Essential Engagement.

We have made some changes to Neara to improve Digital Asset Management capability and your user experience.

We’re offering you a free, three-hour online Zoom training session on the latest enhancement in Neara - the Design Checklist, which will automate many strength and clearance checks. The session will include a walk through of a detailed example.

Training date options

Click on one of the options below to reserve your preferred session. A confirmation email will be sent to you with Zoom meeting details.

1. Wednesday 21 April 2021 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
2. Thursday 22 April 2021 from 10:00am to 1.00pm.
3. Friday 23 April 2021 from 9:00am to 12:00pm.

We have made available the training materials for these sessions, please visit Essential Engagement.

What do you need to do?

1. Select the session date above and reserve your spot to attend a Neara Design Checklist training.
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?

To protect everyone’s health and safety, we’ll hold our next round of ASP engagement forums via Zoom, rather than face to face.

In this round, we’ll be covering a range of topics including safety, bushfire zoning and vegetation management, CEOP2015 Contestable Works Guidelines, inspection and assessment of ASP works. We will also be giving you an initiative updates on Design and Certification, Power Lines Pro and BetterConnect.

We encourage you to participate in these forums. You’ll have the opportunity to discuss our plans and initiatives, and to ask questions or raise issues with Essential Energy team members.

Dates and times

Click on one of the options below to reserve your preferred session (all sessions will have the same content).

• Session 1: Tuesday, 27 April 2021 at 5:00pm to 7:00pm
• Session 2: Thursday, 29 April 2021 at 5:00pm to 7:00pm
• Session 3: Tuesday, 4 May 2021 at 11:00am to 1:00pm

A confirmation email will be sent to you with the Zoom meeting details once you have registered.

What do you need to do?

1. Select the session date above and reserve your spot to attend one of our forums.
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?

We have made some changes to Power Lines Pro to improve Digital Asset Management capability and your user experience.

We’re offering you a free, three-hour online Zoom training session on the latest enhancement in Power Lines Pro - the Design Checklist, which will automate many strength and clearance checks. The session will include a walk through of a detailed example.

Training date options

Click on one of the options below to reserve your preferred session. A confirmation email will be sent to you with Zoom meeting details.

1. Wednesday 21 April 2021 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
2. Thursday 22 April 2021 from 10:00am to 1.00pm.
3. Friday 23 April 2021 from 9:00am to 12:00pm.

We would also like to thank you for your participation in our recent Pulse Check Survey on Power Lines Pro. To check out a summary of the results, please visit Essential Engagement.

What do you need to do?

1. Select the session date above and reserve your spot to attend a Power Lines Pro Design Checklist training.
2. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.
3. View this communication via Essential Engagement.

Further Information

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

What is Happening?

Essential Energy’s revised CEOP2015 Contestable Works Guidelines contain a number of new and revised procedures.

Many of the changes to the procedures it describes have been informed through consultation with over thirty Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 ASPs in a series of workshops held between June and September 2020.

In response to their feedback, the content has been reorganised to support a logical, sequenced flow of information, and our network contestable works requirements and the steps involved in meeting those requirements have been made more explicit.

Please download the Guidelines from the document library and provide your comments and recommendations via email to aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au.

We plan to introduce the new and revised procedures progressively, with full implementation by the end of this year. Updates will be provided regularly to all ASPs over the next few months as we implement the new and/or revised procedures.

Changes and where they are located in CEOP2015 are summarised below:

• revised process for the return of redundant materials (P19)
• requirements for switchboard approvals over 100 amps (P21)
• requirements for the return of meters to depots (P22)
• requirements for Level 3 ASPs to attend site to inform the design concept prior to submitting a design for certification (P24)
• requirements for the Level 3 ASPs to submit Site Specific Vegetation Management Plan for approval with their design certification request (P26)
• introduction of project start-up meetings at the commencement of construction for new contestable works projects (P31)
• revised process for requesting protection settings for LV/HV circuit breakers etc. and revised roles and responsibilities for the procurement and application of protection settings (P32)
• requirements for Level 1 ASPs to submit a registered surveyors advice confirming the assets have been installed within an Easement (P32)
• revised process for managing non-conformances on the network including the option of appealing any issued non-conformance (P33)
• revised project close out process including the replacement of the Certificate of Acceptance with the Practical Completion Advice to indicate commencement of the warranty period at completion of construction (P35)
• requirements for Level 1 ASP to submit all required commissioning documentation – as built design, asset data capture and relevant test certificates - two days prior to commission unless the project is determined to be exempt (this will be agreed at project start up) (P36).

To support these revised processes, a number of changes have been made to the CEOF6012 Notice to Commence Construction and to the CEOF6013 Request for Outage:

• Protection Setting Advice (PSA) specifications table removed from CEOF6012 and moved to CEOF6013
• Schedule of Key Dates table updated in CEOF6012 to include a drop down of key project milestones.

The Certificate of Acceptance has been superseded by the Certificate of Practical Completion.

ASP Forums

We also encourage you to attend our ASP Forums, planned for late April early May 2021, and bring to those forums any ideas or suggestions you have regarding the implementation of these processes. More details regarding the 2021 ASP Forums will be provided in the coming weeks.

What do you need to do?

1. Review the above and download the latest version of CEOP2015 Contestable Works Guideline from 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.

What is Happening?

One of our employees who recently attended a venue in Byron Bay last night tested positive for COVID-19. The employee had checked into the venue, isn’t displaying any COVID-19 symptoms and has followed our COVID-19 protocols and all directions from NSW Health.

We are in close communication with the employee to provide support and employees identified as close contacts have been informed and are currently isolating.

Given these events Essential Energy is making some immediate changes to our operations today. This includes:

• Closure of the Ewingsdale (Byron Bay), Ballina and Lismore depots for additional cleaning of premises and vehicles. No employees, contractors or ASPs are to enter these three depots, under any circumstance, until further notice
• Any redundant materials must be stored correctly and can be returned to an appropriate & open depot
• All planned outages in Ballina, Ewingsdale and Lismore have been postponed for the rest of this week
• Prohibition of movement between Essential Energy locations for the two weeks until 14 April.

Visitors to any Essential Energy site must check in using a QR code and we are using this detail to contact all people who have visited the Ballina, Ewingsdale and Lismore depots since the weekend. We are also working with NSW Health to ensure they have any further information they need.

The safety of our people and the community is our highest priority, and we believe the steps we have taken are necessary to minimise the impact and spread of COVID-19. These steps are designed to ensure we can continue to operate the network safely and ensure staff are available to respond to fault and emergency situations.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely, including NSW Health and government advice. Further information will be provided as required. If you have any questions please email aspinfo@essentialenergy.com.au

In the next few days, you may receive an invitation to participate in a survey from WoolCott Research and Engagement, on behalf of Essential Energy.

The aim of this survey is to seek feedback from our customers and partners on a number of proposed improvements we are considering as part of our program of continuous improvement, which includes projects such as the BetterConnect program and Customer Journey Mapping.

We encourage you to participate, and look forward to receiving your feedback.

Further Information

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

What is Happening?

We’ve made some recent changes to Power Lines Pro to improve Digital Asset Management capability and your user experience.

A technical update available on Essential Engagement under Digital Asset Management for March 2021 details the following changes:

• Drag coefficients
• Simplification of left and right types of pin constructions
• Creating a transverse mirror of a pin construction
• Acquisition of Full Swath LiDAR data

What do you need to do?

1. Review the Power Lines Pro Technical Update March 2021 on Essential Engagement.
2. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.

Further Information

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