We're committed to working with the community and industry in ensuring the delivery of safe and reliable power, and energy products and services to meet their needs.
We continue to work on a range of initiatives aimed at improving application time-frames, refining operational processes to increase efficiency, and providing additional technical support to improve the standard of customer design submissions.
We are working on the following initiatives to provide greater technical support to our customers:
- Reintroduce a Technical Queries service
- Reintroduced the Designer Technical Forums
- Explore customer access solutions for Western Power's (SPIDA) network mapping tool
- Review and publication of the Underground Distribution Scheme (UDS) Manual updates and supporting technical documents
Technical Queries (TQ)
We provide a Pre Application Enquiry service which customers can submit an online application form via our website; this service has taken the place of the 'speak to an engineering expert' service. The information provided through this service covers the following topics and will direct you to the correct application form plus the requirements to submit.:
- a new connection (including Stand-alone Power System / SPS)
- moving Western Power equipment
- pre-application technical query
We have also reinstated the Technical Queries (TQ) service in 2023. This service is available for customers who are yet to submit an application or have already submitted a Design Information Package (DIP) or Design Conformance Review (DCR) request which is yet to be allocated to a Western Power designer. This service can be accessed through our Pre-Application enquiry service.
The technical queries service is a free 30-minute consultation service to assist you with complex and technical questions related to customer connection applications. This service assists developers, electrical consultants and government agencies with questions regarding engineering solutions, standards, policies, and high-level pricing methodologies. Customers using this service should have a medium to high degree of technical awareness of electrical infrastructure in order to get the most out of the session. This service can be used as many times as required over the life of a project. This service may assist with your application for:
- Providing guidance on a design proposal
- Western Power comment on non-standard arrangements
- Technical service and queries that are part of the DIP and DCR process, including capacity checks, are not part of this TQ service.
If you have a query about a proposed development and if it will encroach on clearance zones. You can use the clearance assessment mapping tool.
Quarterly designer technical forums
We plan to re-introduce the designer technical forums later this year.
We're committed to working with industry and providing opportunities for knowledge sharing, particularly with a focus on our published manuals and guides.
The forums continue Western Power’s proactive approach to elevate communication methods by offering a regular avenue for collaboration and technical discussion to workshop and discuss ideas and challenges.
Network mapping tool (SPIDA)
A proof of concept for a new customer tool that can be used to access GIS network data has been completed and tested with several industry participants, eliminating the requirement for more broader testing. Work will now begin to construct a customer facing production version of this tool taking on board the input received. Western Power will provide a detailed industry update on the progress on the proposed functionality of this initiative in early 2024.
UDS Manual updates
We conduct regular assessments of network manuals and guides as part of our commitment to keep industry informed of network design conformance requirements, and in accordance with standard operational practices.
We've resumed our review of the UDS Manual. Updates to the manual will be implemented in stages over the next 18 months, to take into account the stakeholder feedback obtained during the first study, and subsequent industry forums, and increased pace of change in design safety criteria.
In maintaining a collaborative approach with industry, we aim to engage stakeholders during late 2023 to seek feedback on staged UDS Manual updates prior to publication in early 2024.
More information on the UDS Manual updates.
We continue to collaborate and work closely with industry groups to identify ways we can better support our customers during this period of growth and change in the land development sector. We are confident the range of initiatives proposed will provide increased levels of technical support and will deliver an improved customer experience.