Issue 130 January - February 2019

Electrical contractors in Auckland for a long time now have become frustrated by prices their local lines company charges their clients for new connections and capacity upgrades to existing connections.

The Auckland branch of Master Electricians has held a series of discussions with Vector over the years but little or no progress has been achieved on the outstanding issues of pricing, the transparency and contestability of pricing, and service delivery times.

Master Electricians board member, Dave Burt, whose electrical contracting business operates nationwide from branches in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch, says the pricing and performance issues are particularly significant in Auckland and Master Electricians wants to see improvements in pricing contestability and the service delivery provided by Vector.

“Our members are continually having to deal with take-it-or-leave-it pricing that many of their customers find excessive, and also service delays and commercial conditions that we as electrical contractors could never get away with in our competitive market.”

Burt says the dissatisfaction is such that Vector needs to develop a new business model that is more responsive to power consumers and where the costing of new or enhanced connections is more proportionate with usage and aligned with market-competitive pricing for the installation.

One of the most significant changes to the lawful way of carrying out prescribed electrical installation work has been the shifting of the compliance pivot from the completion of a certificate of compliance (CoC) to the safety verifications required for the connection of this work.

Following the implementation of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations in 2010, the issuing of an electrical safety certificate (ESC) declaring, post connection, that the installation resulting from the work is safe to use has become the key document for ensuring the safety of the public and the safe use of the installation in workplaces under the new health and safety legislation.

ElectroLink has addressed this in articles since the development of the new certifying process both before and after it became law.

Following the publication by the Electrical Workers Registration Board (EWRB) of a recent disciplinary hearing, ElectroLink looked to do a follow-up article using this case to show the consequences of ignoring the protections provided for electricians and inspectors in the new connection and certification processes.

The disciplinary case, which resulted in a $1500 fine plus costs, was addressed in the June issue of the Board’s Electron newsletter. The guilty finding appeared likely to have to have centred on the failure of the electrician to have carried out the mandatory safety verifications he had to complete before he connected his work.