Re: Connection of Power to Building Sites

Page 2

2 December 2009

Mr Michael Charlton

ActewAGL

GPO Box 366

CANBERRA ACT 2601

Dear Michael

Re: Connection of power to building sites

The monopoly ActewAGL has on the connection of power to homes in the ACT is not working effectively and is unnecessarily complex. The lack of competition is driving up costs and impacting on affordability while at the same time causing delays to home occupation.

There has been a consistent failure by ActewAGL to deliver power to sites in a timely and efficient manner with this failure becoming even more pronounced as building activity increases, particularly at this time of year with the rush to get jobs handed over before Christmas.

This failure has knock-on effects with builders requiring temporary power that is far more expensive to run and less environmentally friendly. It also means that builders are unable to obtain occupation certificates and must hold off on issuing final claims which affects cash flow. They must also continue to carry insurance on projects and be liable for an extended period.

The Housing Industry Association, Australia’s peak industry body for residential construction, has reported these issued to ActewAGL and the Chief Minister’s Department previously.

At the time HIA’s concerns were initially reported, ActewAGL accepted that an issue existed with the response time to connect power to sites. The emergence of this issue was blamed on a paucity of resources although there was an undertaking given that more resources would be made available and that greater efficiencies would be implemented.

Since then there has been some improvement but this improvement is insufficient to satisfy industry. HIA has been informed by a number of members that there is at least atwo week lead time from a request for service from the builder’s electrician until underground cabling is‘run in’ and a further three weeks untilmeters are installed.

The delays include certification at the BEPCON inspection stage, the setting up of client retail accounts and meter installation. Consequently, what used to take 3-4 days has now blown out considerably.

While HIA has applauded ActewAGL for their honesty and appreciated their willingness to work with industry to date to address underlying issues, clearly industry cannot continue to overlook and tolerate the persistence of this major impediment to the building process.

HIA notes that in the ACT the existing process requires:

·  Builder to trench from house to mini pillar;

·  Electrician to run conduits (not allowed to runcables);

·  Builder to backfill trench (OHS purposes);

·  Electrician to send paperwork to ActewAGL;

·  BEPCON (another agency) to inspect and certify meter board;

·  ActewAGL to return and dig-up trench before running cables to connect power.

In comparison, across the border in NSW the process is fast-tracked as electricians are permitted to run the conduit and cables, and after obtaining the ‘customer number’, they are authorised to connect power. This generally takes no more than 1 to 2 weeks and can be completed by any licensed electrician with additional accreditation enabling them to perform this function.

The NSW system is delivering far superior results for industry and consumers. Unless ActewAGL is able to deliver in the same time-frames, connection of power must be opened up to the market.

We urge you to investigate the recurring issues with power connection to homes and look forward to your advice on how these issues can be resolved. If they cannot be resolved appropriately we will unfortunately be forced to advocate for a private system.

Yours sincerely

HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Stuart Collins

Executive Director

ACT / Southern NSW

cc Craig Simmons

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