Today the Australian Energy Market Commission AEMC made a rule to provide customers impacted by shared fusing arrangements with certainty of meter installation timeframes.

Shared fusing is when customers in separate premises share electricity connections, for example in some apartment blocks. This means the supply of all customers who share the connection may need to be interrupted for metering work.

In these circumstances, if a customer’s supply cannot be interrupted without interrupting supply to one or more other customers, then the current metering installation timeframes do not apply – potentially leaving customers without a new installation or service for an undefined time.

To address this gap, today’s final rule introduces new timeframes for meter installations where a customer shares fusing.

When a customer who lives in a premises with shared fusing requests a new meter, retailers will be required to install the meter by a date agreed with the customer, or if no date is agreed, within 30 business days of discovering the shared fusing.

Similarly, a metering coordinator will be required to fix a malfunctioning meter within 30 business days of the shared fusing being discovered.

When a retailer or metering coordinator asks a distribution business to carry out a planned interruption to install or repair a meter, the distribution business must carry out the interruption on an agreed date, or if no date is agreed, within 25 business days of the request. This provides certainty to customers and market participants to meet timeframes.

The final rule clarifies that retailers can arrange a supply interruption to any of their own customers for the purpose of installing, maintaining, repairing or replacing metering equipment, not just the customer receiving the new meter.

To reduce uncertainty in future installations, the final rule includes a requirement for information sharing by retailers and/or metering parties with the distribution business. Once shared fusing arrangements are identified, the party must share the information with other market participants as soon as practicable.

Media: Kellie Bisset, Media and Content Manager, 0438 490 041 or (02) 8296 7813