Annual Report 2018-2019 Essential Services Commission of South Australia
Tabled paper 1481
Tabled Papers for 13th Assembly 2016 - 2020; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
2019-11-27
Deemed
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
English
Tabled papers
Department of the Legislative Assembly
Darwin
application/pdf
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/755171
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/768714
ESCOSA Annual Report 201819 14 The scale and scope of water and sewerage services offered varies considerably across retailers, contributing to the spread of customer prices and service performance. Retailers reported receiving fewer complaints (334) in 2017-18, compared to 375 in the previous year. At 30 June 2018, 15 retailers reported having a total of 114 residential customers participating in their hardship programs, and 36 retailers reported having a total of 5,393 residential customers on their flexible payment arrangement plans. Retailers reported fewer unplanned water and sewerage interruptions (127 in total), compared to 156 in the previous year. Retailers reported an increase in the number of legal actions and water restrictions (908 in total) to recover debts, compared to 621 in the previous year. Water compliance The Commission regulates compliance and enforcement in the water industry, using various powers to protect consumers long-term interests. Within that framework, the Commission has established the Water Guideline No 1 Compliance and reporting, which supports the compliance regime. The Commission has also published an enforcement policy, which provides guidance on the criteria and processes it uses in determining the type of enforcement action required to effectively address non-compliances on a case-by-case basis. The Commissions compliance framework was utilised over 2018-19 to undertake target compliance action to address non-compliance. In these circumstances, the Commission sought to remediate adverse customer outcomes caused by the non-compliance and drive behavioural change within the non-complying retailer. Ongoing monitoring of the performance of these retailers continues. In summary, the Commission addressed the following compliance matters during the 2018-19 reporting year: Incorrect notifications regarding planned interruptions, which required system updates to improve data accuracy. Failure to provide emergency contact numbers to customers, which required upgrades to phone and customer account systems. Unavailability of customer charter information, which has been rectified to ensure easy access. Administrative errors associated with regulatory reporting. The Commission has liaised with the relevant entities directly about the matters of noncompliance and these have been satisfactorily resolved. Energy While the Australian Energy Regulator is the body primarily responsible for economic regulation of the energy industry in South Australia, the Commission has certain regulatory powers and functions in the sector. The ESC Act along with the Electricity Act 1996 (Electricity Act), Gas Act 1997 (Gas Act), and regulations made under those Acts, establish these regulatory powers and functions. The Commissions responsibilities in 2018-19 included: monitoring and, if necessary, setting the solar retailer feed-in tariff (under the Electricity Act) preparing annual Ministerial Energy Pricing Reports (under the Electricity Act and the Gas Act), and licensing and monitoring network businesses and off-grid suppliers. In the network sector, the Commission is the licensing authority and sets reliability standards. In the generation sector, the Commission continues to be the licensing authority for all electricity generation sources (including wind, solar and battery). http://www.escosa.sa.gov.au/industry/water/codes-guidelines/guidelines http://www.escosa.sa.gov.au/industry/water/codes-guidelines/guidelines http://www.escosa.sa.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/580/130905-EnforcementPolicy_V2-5.pdf.aspx?Embed=Y