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| Sandra Kanck Deputy Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
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Legislative
Council |
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| Sandra Kanck Deputy Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
Parliament Index |
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The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Treasurer a question about the adequacy of customer service provided by AGL, the new owners of ETSA Power.
Leave granted.
The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: In November this year, the South Australian independent industry regulator, Mr Lew Owens, released the Performance of Regulated Electricity Businesses 1999-2000 report. The report includes an assessment of the level of customer service provided by South Australia's regulated electricity businesses. One service measured was that of timeliness for customer appointments. We are told that AGL has a 99.9 per cent success rate of arriving within 15 minutes of an appointed time with its customers, which sounds good until we find out that the appointed time is a four hour block.
Should AGL need to read an electricity meter that is located inside a house, it will offer to read the meter between 8 a.m. and noon, or noon and 4 p.m.; hence AGL has a 270 minute window of opportunity to fulfil its service standard. Perhaps we need to ask why the timeliness rate is not 100 per cent. Should the householder not be available between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. there is a problem because AGL does not inspect meters after hours or on weekends. A constituent who works between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday to Friday asked how they could arrange for their meter to be read. AGL suggested in turn (a) leaving the key in the letter box, (b) leaving the key with a neighbour, or (c) taking a day off work. My questions are:
1. Does the Treasurer believe AGL is providing an acceptable level of customer service in this instance?
2. What role does the Treasurer envisage for the government and the parliament in ensuring an acceptable level of customer service by the regulated electricity industries?
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): I do not see a role for the parliament in that area. We have appointed an independent industry regulator with the powers and responsibilities in relation to the various codes of service, and that is a responsibility that this parliament has given to the independent regulator. It is not the responsibility, with due respect to the Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats, of the parliament to set down the standards she would wish to apply to particular businesses or industries. The honourable member's views in relation to this issue sometimes colour her judgments about a number of areas-
The Hon. Sandra Kanck interjecting:
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: No, the whole area of privatisation. I would just ask the honourable member to speak to some of her colleagues, friends or associates about some of the other private sector agencies and government sector agencies in terms of when they will come to visit to repair various items or provide service.
The Hon. T.G. Roberts interjecting:
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I do not want to criticise local members. There are two particular government or semi-government agencies, and the best they will do is say they will come Tuesday or Wednesday. The person in charge of the home, male or female, has to take a punt on the whole day. So, whilst in an ideal world someone will be able to tell you that they will arrive at 10 a. m. and be there at 10 a.m., the reality is that, if AGL has at least got itself to a stage where it is a four hour block, that is better than a number of other government or semi-government agencies which say they will be there some time on Tuesday; or, if they cannot make it Tuesday, they will be there on Wednesday. If you are trying to work you have the problem the honourable member is talking about, but that is doubled or quadrupled if it is a two day time block period.
It is clearly not an ideal situation, but at least AGL, if the situation is as it was described by the member, is a level above the degree of service offered to householders by some other government agencies run by the public sector, the model preferred by the honourable member. With the operations of the independent regulator, as he looks at the various industry codes, he has a consumer consultative committee or advisory committee in relation to providing him with advice on issues of concern to consumers.
It may well be that, with the passage of time, he decides that these standards need to be improved. Indeed, in general terms he has talked about the need to further improve standards of service. He has also said, in terms of standards of service, that consumers may well have to make a choice as to whether or not they are prepared to pay a little more for improved general levels of service. He was probably talking more about outage times and things like that, rather than this particular area. Nevertheless, he has raised the general question, `If you want improved service, are you prepared to pay more for it? As a consuming community, you then have to make a judgment whether or not that is the way you want to go.'
I am happy to see whether I can obtain any further advice on the issue. All I can say is that these service standards will hopefully improve over time, but it is the responsibility not of the parliament but of the independent industry regulator, in consultation with his advisory committee, to try to improve these standards.
In reply to Hon. SANDRA KANCK (6 December 2000) and answered via letter 13 September 2001.
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I have received advice from the Office of the South Australian Independent Regulator (SAIIR) on the matter of service standards in relation to timeliness for customer appointments.
Section 24 of the Electricity Act 1996 requires that the Industry Regulator must, on the issue of a licence authorising the retailing of electricity, make the licence subject to conditions determined by the Industry Regulator. These conditions must include `minimum standards of service for customers that are at least equivalent to the actual levels of service for such customers prevailing during the year prior to the commencement of this section and take into account relevant national benchmarks developed from time to time, and requiring the entity to monitor and report on levels of compliance with those minimum standards.'
That is, as a minimum, the service standards that AGL is required to meet are based on the service standards that ETSA Power attained in the year leading up to October 1999.
However, the Retail Code can be amended by the SAIIR at any time. Currently, the relevant service standard that is contained in the Standard Customer Sale Contract embodied in the Retail Code provides that in relation to appointments with a customer, AGL SA `?will do our best to be on time for any appointment with you. Unless due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, if we are more than 15 minutes late we will credit your next bill with $20 (including GST) and phone you to apologise.'
In scheduling such appointments (the majority of which concern non-routine meter reads for particular purposes when access to the meter is difficult), I am advised that the established practice of AGL SA is, initially, to seek to negotiate an appointment time based solely on a particular day. Where a customer indicates that they are unavailable from 8am to 4pm on the proposed day, AGL SA suggests that a key be left in a appropriate place, (eg with a neighbour) to enable the representative to gain access to a meter.
If that option proves unacceptable, AGL SA would seek to negotiate a more refined time zone on the preferred day. Initially the option would be either 8am-12noon or 12noon-4pm. If that option were unsatisfactory AGL SA would seek to negotiate a progressively more refined time zone.
If necessary, AGL SA will seek to make an out-of-hours appointment (Tuesday evenings) although it appears that the need for this option is rare.
The SAIIR advises that it is still reviewing the effectiveness of the service standard for customer appointments. Further comment may be forthcoming in the next annual report of the SAIIR into the performance of regulated electricity businesses. However, the SAIIR does not envisage any major change to the service standard in the short-term.
Accordingly, I would note, that while these service standards are based on the service standards that ETSA Power attained, the standards are now at least as stringent and, in addition, they now include penalties for non-compliance, such as the $20 credit to a customer for being more than 15 minutes late for an appointment.
