HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
ENVIRONMENTSCRUTINY COMMITTEE
TUESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2006 AT 10.00 AM
AN UPDATE ON EDF ENERGY PERFORMANCE
Report of the Director of Environment
Author: Dave Jackson, Strategy Development Manager (Lighting)
Tel: 01707 356572
Executive Member: Stuart Pile
- Purpose of report
1.1To update the Scrutiny Committee on EDF Energy’s recent performance in meeting its standards for fault repairs and new connections.
1.2To update the Scrutiny Committee on the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) latest directions on a national Service Level Agreement (SLA) trial to monitor the performance of EDF Energy.
2.Summary
2.1The lastupdate report to the ScrutinyCommittee was presented on the 20th June 2006. Since that time EDF Energy’s performancecontinued to improve throughout 2006 and was mainly within their Charter standards.
2.2Hertfordshire Highways continue to work closely with EDF Energy and performance figures are agreed on a monthly basis.
2.3 EDF Energy has started recording the time taken to repair faults in areas where performance targets are not met, following the request from the last scrutiny committee.
3.Conclusion
3.1The Committee is invited to note this report and decide if they wish to scrutinise the matter further.
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EDF performance.doc
4.Background
4.1Previous reports to the Scrutiny Committeesince October 2003 have detailed the level of performance achieved by EDF Energy and the background to the introduction by OFGEM of a SLA approach to the services offered by Distribution Network Operators (DNO’s) in the provision of new connections and fault repairs to street lights.
4.2Hertfordshire Highways are continuing to assist OFGEM with the implementation of the SLA approach.
5. Fault repair and new connections
5.1A “fault”is a failure of the electrical supply to a street light or an illuminated road sign. Most of the street lights and lit signs in Hertfordshire are connected via an unmetered supply which is provided and maintained by EDF Energy.
5.2New connections are electrical main connections to the supply network to feed
new lights or signs and existing signs that have been replaced.
5.3Performance of fault repairs and new connections are shown in graphs 1, 2 and 3 atAppendix 1 of this report. The graphs show:
- A general trend of a reducing backlog of faults
- A general improving trend in the number of new connections completed
- A steady improvement over the year in the average completion time for new connections
5.4General performance and exceptional faults arediscussed at the monthly meetings held at Highways House, enabling effective progress monitoring of EDF Energy’s performance.
5.5In light of improving trends in performance, evident shortly after June Scrutiny Committee, no letter was sent to EDF although the Committee’s concerns about performance were explained to EDF Energy at the regular monitoring meeting.
5.6Following the June Scrutiny Committee, EDF Energy were asked to provide details of the time taken to repair faults in areas where performance targets are not met. This information will be available monthlystarting from the September 2006 period.
5.7Hertfordshire Highways have recently taken over maintenance of the A10.A list of outstanding works has been handed over, including faults and knock-down replacements.
5.8A request for details of EDF Energy’s performance on the A10 before detrunking has been lodged with the Highways Agency’s contractor but no information has been forthcoming.
6.Unmetered connections – National Service Level Agreement Trial
6.1Background information on the national SLA and the initiative to introduce Competition in Connections (CIC)was presented in previous reports to the Scrutiny Committee on 23 March 2004 and 19 October 2004.
6.2Running in tandem with the issue of CIC isa trial SLA whichhas now been operating a full 12 months. OFGEM have received figures from the DNO’s for all LA’s in England and Wales. It is important for OFGEM to ensure the performance data collected during the trial is not disputed.
6.3OFGEM has requested that the DNO’s provide details of performance on a three monthly basis, indefinitely from 1st April 2005. This extends the SLA trial.
6.4 OFGEM have now collected performance results from Local authorities (LA’s) in England and Wales and have called a meeting to develop a consistent SLA approach. Hertfordshire will be one of the LA’s represented at this meeting on
12 October 2006.
6.5Hertfordshire County Council has expressed three main concerns about the SLA:
- Whether response timescales refer to working days or calendar days
- What happens when Faults and Connections are not repaired or connected within charter timescales
- The ownership of Steel Wire Armoured (SWA) Cables is disputed
7.Financial Implications
7.1There are no financial implications for the County Council with regard to the normal energy supply faults as these are repaired by EDF Energy at their own expense.
7.2The costs of connections are bourne by the scheme budget associated with a particular project.
7.3After the trial 12 months, the SLA may contain penalties for poor performance and these may be applied equally to the DNO and LA as appropriate.
8.Conclusions
8.1The Committee is invited to note this report and decide if they wish to scrutinise the matter further.
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EDF performance.doc
Appendix 1
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EDF performance.doc