Jemena has announced that its electricity network costs will remain flat for all its Victorian customers in 2019 after a review of its prices.
Jemena Executive General Manager, Customer and Markets, Shaun Reardon, said the company was focused on keeping costs stable for its customers and had saved households $90, or 15 per cent, in electricity network costs since 2016 while continuing to increase reliability.
“Doing our bit to try and keep electricity prices steady for Victorians was at the heart of our decision not to increase costs for 2019,” Mr Reardon said.
Each year electricity distribution businesses review the network prices they charge to deliver power to homes and businesses across the country, within the parameters set by the Australian Energy Regulator’s five yearly determinations.
“Not only have we reduced costs for residential customers by 15 per cent since 2016, our reliability and safety continues to increase. From 2016 to 2017 the frequency of unplanned outages on the Jemena Electricity Network decreased 11 per cent with the duration of those outages also decreasing 14 per cent,” Mr Reardon said.
“As part of our commitment to our customers, we have continued to improve our reliability and safety while keeping prices stable.”
In August 2018, Jemena held a series of People’s Panel meetings with residents and local business owners across north and north-western Melbourne to help shape future electricity pricing and services.
“Customers told us they want affordable energy balanced with investment in an efficient future-proof network,” Mr Reardon said.
“As an energy company we need to embrace innovation and look to new technologies to evolve the electricity grid so it continues to deliver reliable and affordable energy while supporting innovations such as increased solar use, batteries, peer-to-peer electricity trading, and Electric Vehicle charging stations.”
