NECA Group

News & Views

12th April 2022

Essential Energy is introducing fees for some Low Voltage Connection Applications from 2 May 2022

These fees cover the costs of services it already provides and, under our agreement with the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), are expected to charge the specific customers requiring the service.   
 
From 2 May 2022, they will apply:  
  • fees for connection enquiries based on the estimated effort to complete (noting that not all enquiries will be charged a fee)   
  • additional fees to some connection applications where detailed engineering assessments (1% of applications) or power quality studies are required (0.1% of all applications a year)   
  • rejection fees for applications submitted without the required information or attachments/supporting information.   
 
Fee changes  
 
ANS Service   
Primary use case 
Network Service  
(as per Price Schedule for Ancillary Network Services 1 July 2021)  
Amount  
(as per Price Schedule for Ancillary Network Services 1 July 2021) (exc GST)  
What is changing?  
Applied from  
  
Upfront payment   
(from 2 May)  
Billed through secure online payment gateway  
Currently billed?  
LV Connection Enquiry  
New land development, new home build 
2.2 Preliminary Enquiry Service  
Starting from $185.95/hr  
2 May   
Yes  
Yes  
No   
Planning Assessments  
 
Renewables development  
2.5 Planning, Protection and Power Quality Studies  
$205.63/hr  
(Engineer Officer R3)  
2 May   
Yes  
   
Yes  
No  
Power Quality Assessments  
Requiring additional load on the network  
2.5 Planning, Protection and Power Quality Studies  
$185.95/hr  
(Technical Specialist R2b)  
2 May  
  
Yes  
  
Yes  
No  
Incomplete Information  
  
Insufficient information provided by applicant  
2.4 Connection Offer Service  
$27.42  
2 May   
Yes  
Yes  
No  
Connection application fees  
Solar Connections/ Upgrades 
2.4 Connection Offer Service  
Basic + Tech Review  
Standard  
   
$27.42 per offer  
$123.38 per offer  
$164.50 per offer  
  
Already applied  
Yes  

 

Yes  
Yes   
 
The table of Ancillary Network Service and Amounts are as per the Price Schedule for Ancillary Network Services 1 July 2021. These Network Service changes will move to upfront payment via the secure online payment gateway.   
 
What do you need to do?   
  1. Accredited Service Providers, Authorised Persons and Electrical Contractors should consider pricing changes when preparing quotations for customers regarding future work.   
  1. Communicate this information to relevant members of your organisation.