Standards of Service
Economic regulation is not concerned with prices alone.
All consumers deserve reasonable services at reasonable
prices. A primary concern of the Commission is that
returns allowed for regulated prices are not inflated by
reducing quality levels, which is economically the
equivalent of a higher price.
Under section 92 of the
Electricity Reform Act, the standards of service applicable in the year prior to
commencement of the Act are the minimum standards to be observed by suppliers to
non-contestable customers. The Commission is also empowered to review these
minimum standards taking into account, among other things, relevant national
benchmarks of service for non-contestable customers.
In addition, clause 9A of the
Network Access Code requires that the network service provider in the
Territory’s regulated networks (Power and Water) observe specified minimum
standards of service.
Standards of Service Code
The Commission has
released a Standards of Service Code following
consideration of submissions received in response to its
October 2005 Draft Code.
In July 2006, pursuant
to clause 5 of the Northern Territory Electricity
Standards of Service Code, the Commission approved the
initial minimum standards for reliability, quality and
customer service submitted by Power and Water.
The Commission is satisfied that the Minimum
Standards give effect to the principles set out in Schedules 1 and 2 of the
Code.
The Commission's approval of the Minimum
Standards is subject to the certain conditions set out in the approval
instrument below.
Pursuant to clause 8.1 of the Code, Power and
Water must as soon as is practicable after the end of each financial year (and
no later than four months after that date) report to the Commission as to the
actual standards achieved in that year with respect to each of the key service
performance indicators nominated in Schedule 1 to the Code.
Annual reporting of performance
The Procedural
Guidelines provide that the Commission will publish a
summary of the information provided by Power and Water
in accordance with clause 8.1 of the Code no later than
six months after the end of each financial year.
Procedural
Guidelines
Pursuant to section 7 of the Utilities
Commission Act, the Commission has issued Procedural Guidelines to set out
in more detail administrative arrangements relating to the Standards of Service
Code.
Draft
Standards of Service Code
The Commission released
a Draft Standards of Service Code following
consideration of submissions received in response to its
August 2004 Issues Paper.
Only one submission was
received from Power and Water:
The Commission is now
reviewing the Draft Code, including in light of legal
advice and the submission received, and expects to
promulgate a final Code by the end of the year.
Issues Paper
The Commission released the
first in a series of papers exploring issues surrounding the development and
implementation of a standards-of-service framework in the Territory’s
electricity supply industry in August 2004. This paper canvasses the general issues associated
with the development and implementation of a standards-of-service framework and
seeks to identify the broad issues relevant to the industry as whole with a view
to promoting further discussion.
This paper considers:
-
the establishment of service
quality benchmarks that reflect the actual levels of service quality that are
consistent with the basis of pricing;
-
the manner in which the
network service provider’s actual performance can most effectively be
monitored against these benchmarks; and
-
the scope for development of
a performance incentive scheme to sharpen the incentives for the network
service provider to meet and exceed established service standards or
benchmarks.
Submissions to the Issues
paper have been received from the following parties:
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