Accredited Service Provider Scheme review
The Office of Energy and Climate Change is reviewing the Accredited Service Provider (ASP) Scheme to examine the continued need for and arrangements to deliver contestable energy connection services as regulated through the Scheme.
We released an Issues Paper for comment in June 2021, and received 42 written submissions in response, some of them very detailed . We also received input from direct consultation with a sample of ASP providers, NECA and with the three electricity distributors.
A Position Paper summarised the responses and presented the options for comment from 10 December 2021 to 25 February 2022. We received 24 written submissions to the Position Paper.
The feedback from this consultation is shaping the final recommendations.
If you have any questions about the review, please send your query to asp.consultation [at] planning.nsw.gov.au.
The ASP Scheme is being reviewed to examine the continued need for and arrangements to deliver contestable electricity connection services as regulated through the scheme.
The ASP Scheme was introduced in 1995 to provide consumers who need to connect to the electricity distribution network with access to a competent and competitive market of service providers. Since the last extensive review of the scheme in 2010:
- the estimated value of contestable works has increased substantially
- Power of Choice metering arrangements have commenced
- renewable energy generation and its connection to the grid has increased
- safety management and customer service expectations have changed.
The terms of reference for the ASP Scheme review centre on these questions:
- Does the current ASP Scheme address its intended purpose of supporting contestable services?
- To what extent does the scheme deliver against the objectives of competence, consumer access and safety?
- What arrangements are needed to ensure the scheme administration meets contemporary customer service expectations?
- What arrangements are needed to ensure the scheme is responsive to industry change, technological advancements and training updates into the future?
