Jemena has announced that it will be making a series of changes to its ‘Connect and Manage My Gas’ portal.
The first round of changes, which came into effect on 13 August 2019, will significantly improve the application process for requests to connect gas to detached residential properties.
The changes for customers in detached residential properties will mean that when they apply for a new gas connection, Jemena will make an offer to connect within one hour of the application being submitted wherever possible, a process that currently takes up to several business days in many cases.
There will also be tweaks made to the portal to simplify the connection application process and reduce the time it currently takes to complete a request.
Changes to the portal application process for other connection types and related requests will also be introduced later in 2019 including medium density, high rise and commercial properties.
Jemena has also outlined what the changes mean for gas retailers:
- When a retailer applies for a connection for a detached residential premises, where possible, Jemena will make an offer within one hour of the application submission
- Changes to the portal front end are minor. For example, removal of “Does this property have a street address?”
- Jemena has reduced the number of options for meter location to make it simpler for the applicant
Given the significant level of automation that is being made with the application types, it is imperative that the connection information is entered correctly. For example:
- Address fields: please use the automated address selection where possible – free text leads to addresses being entered incorrectly and will in some cases not result in an instant offer being provided
- Lot section: only the number is to be entered in this field. Do not enter the word “Lot” or “L” as per the market structure
- All “granny flats” should be identified as Unit 1 or Flat 1 – please do not enter this information in the location descriptor
By digitising and simplifying some new connection application processes, Jemena will be improving efficiency by reducing the processing time for many new applications and providing gas retailers with more visibility of new connection service offerings.
