New customer service standard payment scheme (proposed)

Current service standard: We will provide electricity retailers with a list of all customer connections affected by a planned power outage at least 10 working days in advance of the power outage taking place ($20 credit).

Proposed change: We propose to double the credit payment from $20 to $40 because we have had feedback through customer satisfaction surveys that accurate and timely information about planned outages is important. We want to hold ourselves to account by compensating for any inconveniences to customers if they are not made aware of a planned outage.

Revised service standard:
Letting your electricity retailer know at least 10 working days before any planned power outages, so they can advise you.*

*This excludes momentary outages. From time to time, Aurora Energy or one of our contractors will notify customers directly for low voltage outages less than 10 working days in advance

Current service standard: Restore the electricity service within set timeframes: ($50 credit for residential customers and one month’s line charges for ‘general’ customers).

1. Within 4 hours of becoming aware of the interruption in the urban areas of Dunedin, Mosgiel, Queenstown, Wānaka, Cromwell and Alexandra. The urban areas are defined as being generally within the 50km/h speed zone boundaries
2. Within 6 hours of becoming aware of the power outage in all other areas

Proposed change: The length of time it takes to restore electricity after an unplanned outage is outside of our control due to a number of factors including travel distance for our contractors and the complexity of the fault, and because of this we propose to remove this service standard. Rest assured our 24/7 fault contractors still have power restoration timeframes they need to work within, and we are still committed to restoring power after unplanned outages as quickly and safety as possible.

We compared Aurora Energy’s unplanned power outages over three hours long with other lines companies in NZ. Over the last five years, customers on Aurora Energy’s network are less impacted by extended unplanned outages than the average NZ electricity customer. This is another reason why we propose to remove this service standard credit, because it may be poorly targeted. You can find the comparison information here.

This service standard has also disadvantaged customers who live in remote areas of the network; they may not meet the threshold for a credit payment but have electricity reliability that is lower than should be reasonably expected. We have a project underway to address these ‘reliability hotspots’ and feel this is a better way to improve our service levels to these customers.

Current service standard: We will investigate and respond within seven working days of receiving your power quality complaint ($50 credit).

We are generally meeting this service standard, and because customers have told us that a reliable electricity supply is important to them, we propose to keep this service standard.

More information about charter credit payments made by Aurora Energy and unplanned outages on the Aurora Energy network compared with other lines companies in NZ is available here.