{"id":64879,"date":"2014-04-27T17:28:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-27T07:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=64879"},"modified":"2020-09-01T11:48:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T01:48:58","slug":"ergon-adopts-new-charter-for-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/04\/27\/ergon-adopts-new-charter-for-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ergon Adopts New
Charter For Developers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Ergon Energy TSV Developers Group
(Photo: Qld Government)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 25, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Real estate developers in 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, according to the State Government.<\/p>\n

Launching the “New Connections for Developers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Mr McArdle said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Newman Government\u2019s approach is in stark contrast to Labor\u2019s planning failures that eventually led to the reckless spending that has been putting significant upward pressure on electricity prices for a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The charter is a document that sets out Ergon Energy\u2019s commitment to the industry with respect to capital works either designed and built by a developer or delivered by Ergon.<\/p>\n

The charter primarily commits Ergon to adhere to agreed timeframes for each stage of the electricity connection process.<\/p>\n

Mr McArdle said the charter applied from when a developer made an inquiry through to testing and commissioning to enable connection to the network.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt commits Ergon to keeping the customer informed every step of the way,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Performance Bond has also been reduced to bring it into line with the one levied by Energex.<\/p>\n

\u201cErgon 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Charter applies to developers of residential, rural, commercial and industrial subdivisions, including apartments, office and shopping complexes, closed gate or private subdivisions and retirement villages.<\/p>\n