The Victorian Government legislated an ‘f-factor scheme’ which began in 2012. The purpose of the scheme is to provide an incentive for Victorian distribution network service providers (distributors) to reduce the risk of fire starts and to reduce the risk of loss or damage caused by fire starts. The distributors are required to provide reports of the fires they start each year.
Under the scheme, the AER sets an annual target number of fire starts for each distributor for 2012–15 against which its actual performance is compared. The AER determines the actual number of fire starts for each distributor based on fire start reports provided by the distributors’ and other information collected by the AER.
The AER determines a reward or penalty amount for each distributor, based on their performance against the fire start targets. The AER will make a draft determination in June 2015 on the reward or penalty amounts and consult with interested parties before making a final determination. A final determination on the reward or penalty amounts for each distributor for their 2014 performance will be made by 30 September 2015.
More information about the f-factor scheme and the targets is available at the Victoria F-factor scheme determination 2012-15.