WA homeowners burdened with connection costs

Homeowners in Western Australia will soon pay $350 more to have power connected as a result of a bureaucratic new connection scheme, Master Electricians Australia has warned.

Master Electricians Australia WA state manager Anthony Mancini said Western Power’s Service Apparatus Connection Scheme (SACS) would represent a substantial cost burden for homeowners in WA and would lead to delays in the connection process.

Mancini criticised Western Power for failing to listen to industry concerns about the new scheme.

“The new scheme will cause the connection process in WA to become more expensive and severely restricted, which in turn is likely to force a considerable number of electrical contractors to withdraw from the scheme completely,” Mancini said.

“With contractors currently connecting around 70% of all installations, the public will likely experience delays in connection should contractors drop off this scheme when it becomes too onerous, as the connection process will then fall back to Western Power.

“This will generate extra costs for homeowners amounting to $350 per home for every installation stemming from the need to have new contractors trained to conduct these connections, as well as unpaid downtime required of electrical contractors to allow them to comply with the scheme’s audit requirements.

“It is very disappointing that an initial meeting between Master Electricians Australia and Western Power has showed them to be unresponsive to these concerns.”

Scheduled to commence at the start of next year, Western Power’s Service Apparatus Connection Scheme (SACS) is a replacement to a network connection scheme called the Service Connect Scheme.

Mancini said the scheme will introduce a level of auditing red tape and supplementary requirements not at all related to safety, and also bring about additional costs to electrical contractors to become compliant.

“No one cares more about electrical safety than Master Electricians Australia,” Mancini said.

“We are currently lobbying on behalf of members and all electrical contractors to have the scheme’s rules reviewed and for industry to be more closely involved in the decision-making process.

“We are asking that the state government step in before it becomes too late.”