Leading energy company, Jemena, has released its Gas Networks Draft 2020 Plan, outlining the company’s future plans for evolving the NSW gas distribution network, reducing prices and maintaining reliability of the network.
The Jemena Gas Network delivers natural gas to close to 1.4 million homes and businesses in New South Wales.
“We are now calling on customers to provide feedback on the draft Plan as part of the second round of customer consultation,” said Jemena Managing Director Frank Tudor.
The Jemena Gas Networks Draft 2020 Plan was developed following extensive consultation with residential and business customers to ensure it meets their needs over the next five years. The draft Plan is available for customer feedback over a five-week period before it is submitted to the Australian Energy Regulator in mid-2019.
Keeping energy affordable while preparing the network for the future
Throughout consultations for the Plan, customers consistently highlighted energy affordability as a priority. Jemena has committed to play its part in reducing bills for customers for the next five years.
“Affordability was an issue that almost every customer raised with us during the first phase of engagement. Wholesale gas prices have been rising and customers have been feeling the impact. This is why we are doing our part to place downward pressure on prices,” said Mr Tudor.
“The draft Plan proposes to reduce residential network prices by an average of $192 and commercial network prices by an average of $9,289 over a five-year period while continuing to improve the reliability of the network. This is in addition to an average saving of $188 in residential network prices in the previous five-year period.”
Preparing the gas network to support increased use of renewable energy was also a top priority for customers.
“Customers told us they expect us to innovate and plan for the future so they can enjoy gas for many years to come. Our Power to Gas trial, called Project H2GO, is an example of how we will utilise technology to make the network greener. In partnership with the Federal Government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) we will test how to repurpose our network so it can store hydrogen gas, generated from solar and wind power,” said Mr Tudor.
“Over the long-term, we will continue to embrace new technologies that transform how customers use energy”.
Listening to our customers
“As part of our first phase of customer consultation we held a series of forums where we spent many months engaging actively with a cross section of community members across both urban and rural New South Wales to understand their views on the future of our gas network,” said Mr Tudor.
“This work aligns with our commitment to the Energy Charter, which is an industry initiative that aims to deliver improved customer outcomes by driving collaboration across the energy sector. The charter, released this week, strives to put customers at the centre of our business and the energy system.”
“We’re now encouraging customers to provide feedback on the draft Plan.”
Visit yournetwork.jemena.com.au to view and submit feedback on the Jemena Gas Network Draft 2020 Plan. Submissions are due by 7 March.
