Maintaining our operating expenditure at efficient levels

Do you want to understand the key components of our operating expenditure (opex) forecast? Opex relates to money spent maintaining and operating the assets that make up and support the electricity distribution system. Basically, the poles, wires, transformers and substations that deliver electricity to your homes and businesses must be maintained to enable a safe and reliable system.

This may include:

• annual and/or cyclical programs to manage vegetation around powerlines to mitigate risk and maintain reliability;

• restoring supply from unplanned outages caused by extreme weather events, equipment failure or third-party damage, and the inconvenience payments to customers that result from them exceeding the levels of service set by Essential Services Commission of South Australia; and

• customer service and business support costs.

Chapter 7 of the 2020-2025 Draft Plan also explains how we develop a total forecast using the Australian Energy Regulator’s preferred ‘base-step-trend’ methodology; and how we’ve reduced our forecast expenditure in response to customer and stakeholder feedback. Please take the time to read the Draft Plan on the Talking Power website.