Our current plan covers from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2026. (The period 2022-26 refers to the financial years.)
Some of the benefits that we will deliver to our customers over 2022-26 include:
- An average saving of $113 on bills over the period (excluding higher insurance premium costs allowed by the AER);
- Continued investment in network safety, security and reliability. This includes assets that will help reduce bushfire risk, such as Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiter (REFCL) technology;
- Continued investment to allow more customers to connect solar panels and batteries to the network and export their power;
- Improved customer communication, including on outages, through better use of technology; and
- Pricing arrangements that reflect a Victorian-wide customer consultation.
As part of the Customer Forum, we also identified several ways to improve our services. These range from making it easier to make claims, to helping businesses find the right person to speak with.
Our 2022-26 proposal
In an Australian first, we negotiated with customers on priorities for future investment in the electricity network.
This approach was part of “New Reg”, a new model of consumer engagement. New Reg is an initiative from the Australian Energy Regulator, Energy Networks Australia and Energy Consumers Australia. This ensured consumers had a strong say in regulatory outcomes.
The outcome of our engagement offers price relief for customers and ensures we have a sufficient budget to maintain and improve network reliability and safety. We also have a stronger incentive to further improve customer experience.
To achieve these outcomes we published a Regulatory Proposal and then a Revised Proposal. The AER assessed each of our proposals before issuing a Draft and Final Decision.
The regulatory proposal documents are provided below.