Electrical contractors in Auckland for a long time now have become frustrated by prices their local lines company charges their clients for new connections and capacity upgrades to existing connections.
The Auckland branch of Master Electricians has held a series of discussions with Vector over the years but little or no progress has been achieved on the outstanding issues of pricing, the transparency and contestability of pricing, and service delivery times.
Master Electricians board member, Dave Burt, whose electrical contracting business operates nationwide from branches in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch, says the pricing and performance issues are particularly significant in Auckland and Master Electricians wants to see improvements in pricing contestability and the service delivery provided by Vector.
“Our members are continually having to deal with take-it-or-leave-it pricing that many of their customers find excessive, and also service delays and commercial conditions that we as electrical contractors could never get away with in our competitive market.”
Burt says the dissatisfaction is such that Vector needs to develop a new business model that is more responsive to power consumers and where the costing of new or enhanced connections is more proportionate with usage and aligned with market-competitive pricing for the installation.