Powercor - Increase to minimum wood pole interventions - Cost pass through application - March 2022

On 1 March 2022 Powercor submitted an application under clause 6.6.1 of the National Electricity Rules to the AER for a positive pass through of costs associated with a new regulatory obligation to replace or reinforce 34,650 wood poles between 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2026.

Powercor proposed that the pass through amount should be recovered through an increase in Powercor’s distribution revenue over the remainder of the 2021–26 regulatory control period. Powercor also proposed an adjustment to its service level targets for the Customer Service Incentive Scheme because of the higher number of planned outages that the additional pole interventions will require.