Power and Water completed its first Distribution Determination under the Northern Territory National Electricity Rules as administered by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) in 2019.
The AER is the economic regulator for network service provision across most of Australia.
They set the maximum revenue network providers can earn from the provision of Standard Control Services and makes this determination every five years. Revenue should reflect:
- Prudent and efficient costs
- An appropriate level of service quality.
Power and Water’s first regulatory proposal made under the Northern Territory National Electricity Rules came into effect on 1 July 2019 for the period 1 July 2019 – 30 June 2024. As the economic regulator, the AER sets the maximum amount of revenue Power and Water can recover from the provision of standard control services over a five-year regulatory period.
On 30 April 2019, the AER released its final decision on Power and Water’s electricity distribution determination for the 2019-24 regulatory control period.
You can view Power and Water’s original submission, the AER’s subsequent draft determination, Power and Water’s revised proposal and the AER's final decision on the AER website .
Power and Water’s approved tariff structures for the 2019-24 regulatory control period was approved by the AER as part of its final decision released on 30 April 2019.
Power and Water’s Engagement Program
Power and Water began a comprehensive Customer and Stakeholder Engagement Program to help identify the needs and priorities of all electricity customers across the Northern Territory.
We place a high value on engaging with our customers and stakeholders and beginning in February 2017, we coordinated a number of different engagement activities to help identify these needs and priorities, including customer focus groups, in-depth interviews, creation of a customer advisory council, deliberative forums, large energy user forums and network tariff forums.
The information and feedback gathered through this engagement program influenced our proposals to the regulator for the next five year regulatory period beginning 1 July 2019. These activities, presentations and feedback reports are outlined and can be viewed below.
Power and Water will continue to engage with our customers throughout the 2019-24 regulatory period.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| February to March 2017 | Focus groups |
| February to March 2017 | Independent research interviews |
| May 2017 | 1st Customer Advisory Council |
| July 2017 | 2nd Customer Advisory Council |
| August 2017 | Two deliberative forums |
| October 2017 | Large energy users forum |
| October 2017 | 3rd Customer Advisory Council |
| November 2017 | Draft tariff structure statement |
| December 2017 | 4th Customer Advisory Council |
| January 2018 | Initial submission to the AER |
| February 2018 | 5th Customer Advisory Council |
| April 2018 | 1st AER Public Forum |
| June 2018 | 6th Customer Advisory Council |
| October 2018 | 7th Customer Advisory Council |
| October 2018 | 2nd AER Public Forum |
| November 2018 | Network Tariff Retailer Forum |
| November 2018 | Revised Submission to the AER |
| December 2018 | 8th Customer Advisory Council |
Engagement activities
Ongoing- Established 2017
Our Customer Advisory Councils have become increasingly important us. These Councils provide insight from members representing the interests and views from a broad range of consumer and environmental advocates, industry and business groups and of course customers. Council members are encouraged to engage in robust discussions around various products or planned projects to ensure the many and varied views, ideas and opinions are considered prior to Power and Water making final decisions.
Our Customer Advisory Council was established in early 2017 with our inaugural meeting held in May 2017. The Council’s initial focus is on our power networks services and future plans.
The Council is scheduled to meet four times per year.
Have your say! YourSay@powerwater.com.au
November 2018
Power and Water conducted a Network Tariff Retailer Forum at the Ben Hammond Complex in November 2018. This was an important piece of engagement which allowed us to explain the changes to Power and Water’s incoming network tariff structures scheduled to begin 1 July 2019.
The forum also covered our proposed Alternative Control Services (ACS) indicative charges and their applicable service descriptions, allowing retailers to provide feedback and request further information on the services we perform, cost structures and their application.
You can view the materials presented at the forum below:
- Power and Water presentation to participants
- Tariff structure by consumer class fact sheet
- ACS Service descriptions (Meter Services) fact sheet
- ACS Service descriptions (Service Group) fact sheet
- ACS Service descriptions (Quoted Services) fact sheet
We received one written submission from:
November 2017
Power and Water invited feedback and comments on our Draft Tariff Structure Statement overview for electricity network services. The paper provided a summary of our proposed plans and tariff design for the next regulatory period commencing 1 July 2019.
The Revised Tariff Structure Statement (TSS), TSS Overview and TSS Explanatory Statement is publicly available from the AER’s website.
Submissions received:
October 2017
In conjunction with the deliberative forums held in Darwin and Alice Springs, Power and Water conducted a large energy user forum for major customers who consume more than 750MWh per year.
This forum provided an opportunity for a broad range of large energy users to consider network tariff pricing options and service levels in the context of their operational environments.
The large energy user forum was held in Darwin on Thursday 12 October 2017.
Have your say! YourSay@powerwater.com.au
The centrepiece of Power and Water’s 2017 engagement program has been our two deliberative forums for residential and small business energy customers. These forums helped build upon the insights gained from previous engagement activities (focus groups, in-depth interviews and council meetings) to facilitate deeper exploration of important issues and trade-offs regarding network pricing, investment allocation and service levels.
The forums were held in Darwin on 21 August and Alice Springs on 23 August 2017.
Have your say! YourSay@powerwater.com.au
In-depth interviews were conducted with a number of large electricity users and system participants, such as retailers and generators, with representation from a number of customer advocate groups across the Northern Territory. This provided a clearer picture of customer’s perceptions and expectations, and the direction Power and Water should be heading, along with feedback on our current performance and reliability.
Have your say! YourSay@powerwater.com.au
February to March 2017
The purpose of these focus groups was to explore customer knowledge and perceptions of Power and Water. Specifically exploring the extent of understanding of our power network services, how we fit into the electricity supply chain and what customers identify as key areas of interest or concern.
A total of nine focus groups were conducted across the Northern Territory with a mix of large and small, residential and business customers.
| Location | Number of groups | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Darwin metropolitan area | 2 | 15 February 2017 |
| Palmerston and rural areas | 2 | 16 February 2017 |
| Alice Springs area | 2 | 20 February 2017 |
| Katherine area | 2 | 16 February 2017 |
| Tennant Creek area | 1 | 21 February 2017 |
The feedback received from these focus groups, provided valuable insights into how customer and stakeholders’ view Power and Water. They also highlighted confusion around ‘who is responsible for what’ in the electricity supply chain since the structural separation of Power and Water in 2014.
There was clear sentiment around our reliability and responsiveness as well as positive feedback regarding our hardworking field crews. Other themes like undergrounding power lines, energy sustainability, continuing engagement and customer service were also raised.
Have your say! YourSay@powerwater.com.au
