News & Views

The NSW Department of Industry has now released updated Service and Installation Rules.

The Rules have been updated to help facilitate the market-led rollout of smart meters in NSW.

Summary of changes

There have been significant changes to the Rules, with the main changes being:

• The definitions are no longer individually numbered, (consistent with the format of other regulatory documents);

• Chapter 1 has been redesigned to bring more administrative items forward to the beginning of the chapter;

• The roles of Meter Providers and Distributors have been differentiated;

• Many individual items have been adjusted (e.g. the consistency of heights on poles for access by non-authorized persons, vegetation management around overhead services, etc);

• The definition of a connection point has been clarified (with associated diagrams), becoming the definition required by the Advanced Meters Act 2016. The Connection point, which is the point of delineation between the customer’s installation and a distribution network, has been more clearly explained. Substantial changes covering Service Protection Devices (SPD) and Meter Protection Devices (MPDs), including:

• The term "service fuse" has been replaced by SPD or Service Protection Fuse;

• Meter installations now require a MPD, usually an 80 Amp fuse (other protective devices may be used at the discretion of the Metering Provider), for each metered installation;

• Where an installation supplies only one metered customer, the SPD and MPD functions can be combined into one 80 Amp device. Generally it is expected that the existing service fuse would be relabelled appropriately and loaded with an 80 Amp cartridge.

• A changeover of physical devices in the conversion of metering from type 5 or 6 to type 4 does not constitute an alteration under the Rules. However, this exception does not exclude the installer from meeting the intent of the Rules in matters relating to safety including but not limited to Meter Protection Devices and fire rated mounting as required by the Rules.

Timing for the changes

According to the Department of Industry, the revised Rules should be implemented as soon as practicable, with a staged transition period to allow the revised Rules to be promulgated and enable work in progress to be completed. The revised Rules may be applied now but in any case:

• All metering work is to comply with chapter 4 of the Rules after 30 September 2016 (it is expected that fuse derating to 80 amps can occur immediately); and,

• All work is to comply with the new Rules after 31 November 2016.

Further information

A copy can be found from NECAs Technical Knowledge Base (TKB). NECA will be holding seminars for the new Service and Installation Rules. For details, click here.

Should members have any queries, please contact Adam Spivakovsky, Policy Adviser on tel: (02) 9021 9687 or email: adam.spivakovsky@neca.asn.au