Electrical Contractors can now submit ‘Online Technical Advice Cases’ via the Connections Portal.

Online Technical Advice Cases are lodged just like an EWR or Basic application but please refer to the Work Instructions here if required.

Benefits of the Online Technical Advice Case

• Available 24/7 – You can submit the online request any time of day or night.
• Add Supporting Documentation – It has capacity to add documents or photos to clarify your query. Clear information will support the team in providing you timely and accurate information.
• Response available in the 'Documents Tab – Once provided the advice will be available to view in the 'Documents Tab' of the case.

** Make sure that you have consulted the SIR before contacting Technical Advice **

Cases will be picked up by a technical advice team member within 10 business days. If you require a site visit, please allow plenty of notice so that we can schedule accordingly.

Once assessed and Technical Advice has been provided, a response will be made available in the documents tab of the relevant case.

The Technical Advice Team can still be contacted via phone (1300 300 545) between 9:00am -3:00pm Monday to Friday (please note upcoming Holiday period)

A number of our teams are taking a well-earned break over the Christmas and New Year period.

• Technical Advice Team - will be unavailable from 21/12/23 returning 15/01/2024.
• Customer Service Centre, Market & Connections and Field operations teams will be operating with limited resources.
• Negotiated Applications Team - will be unavailable from 21/12/23 returning 15/01/2024.

All other areas of the business will shut down from Saturday 23^rd December 2023 and return to usual operations on Tuesday 2^nd January 2024.

From all of us at TasNetworks, we wish you a safe and happy holiday period.

Mid span connections will only be approved when there is no alternate connection option available.

1. Contact Technical Advice on 1300 300 545 or via the Online Technical Advice Request
   • These connection types must be approved by one of Technical Advice team. They will discuss your options and advise accordingly.
   • A case number will be provided - this must be included as a reference on both the Application & the EWR.
2. Submit a Basic Application via the connection's portal.
   • Reference a 'mid-span connection is required' and include the case number.
   • Once reviewed a quote will be provided (*approx. $1,500)
3. Submit an EWR once all work has been completed onsite.
   • Reference a 'mid-span connection is required' and include the case number.
     
   • The customer may need to accept this fee via their retailer.
4. Standard EWR process follows from here.

*These connection types are covered in the Ancillary Services - Quoted Services application & Price Guide

To avoid delays to your connection, ensure you follow the above process.

There is an increase in the number of jobs that TasNetworks attends where there are no fixings (saddles & screws) supplied or the incorrect sizes and quantity supplied.

To help avoid delays to your connection or additional charges for wasted site visits, you must (as per the Service & Installation Rules 6.5.2);

• Provide enough saddles & fixings to run the full length of cable up the TasNetworks pole.
• Ensure the saddles are the correct size to ensure a 'snug' (not too loose / not too tight) fit around the cable.
• Enough fixings must be supplied to support the cable at 1 metre intervals.
• Saddles provided must be full saddles (not half).

If these fitting are not provided or are not the correct size, your job may be delayed.

TasNetworks has begun an inspection program for all homes and businesses where defective 100A Michaud Service Fuse Holders may be present (original safety alert available here).

The program will see the service fuse holders inspected and, if identified as being from one of the impacted batch numbers (#214306 or #214113), red heat shrink will be placed over the shear bolts and the location recorded to support a timely replacement program.

The inspection program is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024. Once the inspection has occurred, customers will be notified as to whether their fuse will need to be replaced or not.

TasNetworks are continuing to work with the supplier and other stakeholders to determine the replacement program timeframes.

To read the full alert - please open this link.

TasNetworks Service & Installation Rules v8.4 has been released.

Minor changes have been made to wording in;

• Section 4 - Supply Arrangement Considerations
• Section 6 - UG, OH and Multiple Tenancy Connection Types

The SIR version 8.4 - Change Fact Sheet provides additional detail, but please read the sections in their entirety to understand the changes.

TasNetworks has become aware of a defect in 100A Michaud Service Fuse Holders at the consumer’s point-of-attachment (POA).

Please read the Alert to make sure you are familiar with the defect and share with your teams.

DO NOT make contact with the 100A Michaud Service Fuse Holders and ONLY OPERATE if you have the accredited Level 2 - Authority to Operate.

We will continue to update the industry as more information is made available.

If you require your connection on a specific date and/or time, the service will be classed as a tee-up (please refer to TasNetworks 2023-24 Ancillary Services Guide on our website for more information)

Generally, we require longer notification for tee-ups to negotiate an agreed date. A minimum of 3-4 weeks notification for TasNetworks is ideal to ensure a successful outcome, however this timeframe does not include the retailer processing timeframes which you should factor in to your lead time.

You can check the status of your EWR on the connection portal to see which stage of the process your EWR Is currently at whether the EWR is with TasNetworks or the retailer.

TasNetworks will attempt to contact the party requesting the tee-up service within five business days of receipt of the service request from the retailer.

Aurora Energy has asked that TasNetworks share the following message on their behalf.

"Aurora Energy has continued to make progress on reducing the time to process EWRs over the past few weeks, and further improvements will be seen from August onwards as additional resources are brought onboard and receive training.

New connections will continue to be prioritised, however if ECs can encourage their clients to contact Aurora as soon as possible to confirm their consent for works to be performed, this will greatly reduce the processing times currently being experienced.

Average wait times for customers are generally between 10 and 30 mins, however this tends to be much shorter if they are able to contact Aurora prior to 9am.

Whilst we understand that ECs want to assist their customers to get through to Aurora more directly, please refer them to 1300 13 2003 and not provide customers with the EC line details as this results in delays for all ECs contacting Aurora.

From the Aurora Energy EWR team"

A new version of the Service and Installation Rules - Version 8.3 has been published to the TasNetworks Website.

As only minor changes have been made to help provide clarity to the existing content - the effective date is 1 June, 2023.

The Change Fact Sheet will help you to understand which sections the changes have been made.