New charter to power regional development

Real estate developers across regional Queensland will save time and money and find it easier to connect to the electricity grid under a new charter released by Ergon Energy.

Launching the New Connections for Developers’ Charter at a forum of industry leaders in Townsville, Energy Minister Mark McArdle said the charter would provide greater consistency and minimise costs for future real estate subdivision projects.

“The LNP Government promised to grow the construction sector as one of the four pillars of the economy and this charter will enable developers to plan and deliver better infrastructure more efficiently,” Mr McArdle said.

“The Newman Government’s approach is in stark contrast to Labor’s planning failures that eventually led to the reckless spending that has been putting significant upward pressure on electricity prices for a decade.”

The charter is a document that sets out Ergon Energy’s commitment to the industry with respect to capital works either designed and built by a developer or delivered by Ergon.

The charter primarily commits Ergon to adhere to agreed timeframes for each stage of the electricity connection process.

Mr McArdle said the charter applied from when a developer made an inquiry through to testing and commissioning to enable connection to the network.

“It commits Ergon to keeping the customer informed every step of the way,” he said

“The charter also places an obligation on developers who arrange the design and construction of the electrical infrastructure for their projects to keep Ergon informed about their progress.

“The charter is already yielding benefits for the development industry with the scrapping of the Maintenance Bond that required projects to find 125 per cent of the value of the electrical work being done up front.

“The Performance Bond has also been reduced to bring it into line with the one levied by Energex.

“Ergon will work with developers to deliver the most cost-effective solutions for the electricity connection works and companies will benefit from having access to a dedicated Customer Connection Manager right from the time they make a formal inquiry.”

The Charters applies to developers of residential, rural, commercial and industrial subdivisions, including apartments, office and shopping complexes, closed gate or private subdivisions and retirement villages.

A copy of the Developers’ Charter is available on the Ergon Energy website:

https://www.ergon.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/201187/EGE0411-developers-charter-r4.pdf

[ENDS] 25 April 2014

Media Contact: Phil Hind 0437 334 183