The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has today released an Issues Paper seeking stakeholder comments on a Customer Service Incentive Scheme. The scheme would reward distributors for improving customer service, and penalise distributors for poor customer service.
AusNet Services developed a proposed Scheme with its Customer Forum as part of the New Reg trial. The New Reg trial is a joint initiative of the AER, Energy Consumers Australia and Energy Networks Australia.
The Issues Paper seeks stakeholder views on the merits of developing such an incentive, and on some key design elements of the potential incentive. These include the method of calculating rewards or penalties, performance parameters, and how best to use third party information.
Invitation for submissions
Stakeholders are invited to provide comments on the Issues Paper to regulatoryinnovation
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (regulatoryinnovation[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au) by 19 August 2019.
After we receive submissions, we will hold a Stakeholder Forum video conference at AER offices around the country to discuss submissions and gather further views. Following this, we may develop and publish a draft Scheme for stakeholder comment. We will aim to publish any potential Final Scheme in February 2020.