Welcome to the sixth issue of the BULB - your utilities literacy news. Stretching the bi-monthly in our title, this issue comes to you later than scheduled. From solar power for public housing to a spotlight on our recent - totally unscheduled - state-wide blackout, we have all the news. Don't forget to enter our quiz "Utilities Pursuit" with the newly added condition of a draw prize to ensure everyone who enters gets a chance to win!
The BULB aims to be informative and inspiring - providing a platform for ongoing support to graduates of the Utilities Literacy Training for Community Workers.
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Breaking News: UL Program extended
UCWB’s Utilities Literacy Training, part of the DCSI-funded Utilities Literacy Program, originally due to end in October 2016, has received an extension of funding into 2017. The program has been very well received, and it seems likely that it will be funded for a further 3 years, subject to a tender process.
We are taking this opportunity to try something a bit different – instead of the 2-day workshops, we are now offering a series of half-day workshops that cover the same content. We hope that this format may be more accessible for people who found a 2-day commitment too difficult.
Previous trainees are also welcome to attend any of these workshops as a refresher on a particular topic.
There are 5 different workshops available. See the workshop descriptions and enroll via the links in the calendar or on our webpage. Please forward this information on to colleagues and community workers who might benefit from the new training.
Calling all regional workers - Invitation to teleconference!
Would you like a Utilities Literacy refresher/troubleshooter conversation, but can’t manage a training day? Please send us an email if you’d be interested in joining a teleconference.
Of course, you’re always welcome to contact us with any queries. We’ll do our best to help you solve them!
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Government Updates: Solar Photovoltaic Systems for Public Housing
 The State Government has awarded tenders to install up to 200 solar PV systems on public housing in the Adelaide City Council area, with a further 200 systems to be installed on new public housing being built in metropolitan and regional areas.
Other Housing SA tenants who are not on a short term or probationary lease, can apply for approval to install their own solar PV system on their Housing SA property. In this case, the tenant is responsible for choosing and buying the system, installation, connection, maintenance and insurance, and for removing the system and repairing the property on moving out.
Once a tenant has received quotes and chosen an installer, the approval process has a number of steps to follow before the tenant can arrange installation and connection of the solar PV system.
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Independent Review of Energy Reliability
The nation’s energy ministers met on 7 October to discuss questions about the security of electricity supply that was raised by the South Australian blackout.
Following the meeting, they announced that the Commonwealth Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, would chair an independent review “to develop a national reform blueprint to maintain energy security and reliability” in the National Energy Market, in the light of the current transition from 20th to 21st century technologies. A preliminary report is expected in December.
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Consumer Updates: Is gas really cheaper than electricity?
As the changing seasons bring the end-of-winter gas and electricity bills, consumers may be wondering whether the old view that gas is cheaper than electricity is really true anymore.
Kate Leslie from the Alternative Energy Association (ATA) points out that, “while gas is cheaper per unit of energy than electricity, it is much less efficient” – particularly when compared with clever electric technology like heat pumps for hot water and reverse-cycle air conditioners for space heating. Appliances like these, she says, “can use one megajoule of energy to transfer between 4-5 MJ of heat. With gas, by contrast, 1 MJ becomes at best 0.9 MJ of heat in a burner.”
 ATA research shows that it is no longer economic to install new gas connections, and that for many dual-fuel homes it makes financial sense to replace gas appliances with electric ones as those appliances wear out, and sometimes before they wear out. All-electric households also benefit from having only one supply charge to pay (supply charges for gas cost on average $260 per year).
There are however non-economic reasons, such as cooking with gas or the quality of radiant heat from gas heating, which should also be considered when weighing up the arguments for and against dual-fuel.
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Water price drop
Everyone would have now received a water bill with new lower prices. From 1 July 2016, SA Water residential and business customers received a reduction in water usage and sewerage charges.
Residential usage charges fell by a little over 3%: for the first 30 kL per quarter, the price fell from $2.35 to $2.27 per kL; for 30 to 130 kL, from $3.36 to $3.24 per kL; and for usage above 130 kL per quarter, the price fell from $3.63 to $3.51 per kL.
Sewerage charges, which are calculated on property value, also fell by more than 13% on average.
Supply charge remained the same, at $71.60 per quarter.
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SOME STATS: Disconnection and Debt Snapshot
The Australian Energy Regulator publishes quarterly statistics on a variety of measurements, including complaints, disconnections, payment plans and debt.
In the quarter ending March 2016, 13,192 electricity customers and 5,288 gas customers in South Australia were enrolled in hardship programs. In addition, 29,253 electricity customers and 14,034 gas customers had outstanding debt, but were not on hardship programs. The average debt for electricity was $776 and for gas $406. 2,351 electricity customers and 1,566 gas customers were disconnected for non-payment of energy debt.
Graphs illustrating this data and lots more useful statistics can be seen here. |
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 Spotlight: SA’s ‘Black System Event’
On Wednesday 28 September, a once-in-50-years storm swept across South Australia. A few minutes before 4 pm, electricity supplies to the entire state were suddenly cut, leaving homes dark, businesses shut down, and traffic in chaos.
Photographs soon showed huge high-voltage transmission pylons bent to the ground like grazing gazelles, flattened by the high winds. The operator of the transmission network, ElectraNet, reported that 22 towers on three out of the four transmission lines linking Adelaide and the north of the state were damaged. Some of the tens of thousands of lightning strikes also reportedly struck electricity infrastructure.
Each electricity asset in the network has a safety switch, not unlike the one in a home. These switches are designed to pick up disruptions in the network, such as rapid rises and falls in voltage, and very quickly trip if the asset is in danger. This means that infrastructure is isolated and protected from the rest of the network, rather than being open to catastrophic damage.
To maintain a consistent voltage, electricity supply must be balanced with electricity demand, moment by moment. A reliable electricity grid is designed with enough reserves built into it to cover “credible” or reasonably possible contingencies. If a generator or transmission line fails, there is enough extra capacity in the system to cover such a loss, by quickly turning up generators or switching off selected areas – as in the suburb-wide load shedding “brownouts” we sometimes get on hot days. It is expensive to have a lot of extra capacity standing by, so the system is not built to withstand “non-credible” events, such as the loss of multiple generators or transmission lines.
It took 40 seconds for the three transmission lines to fall. In a cascading failure, safety switches across the state tripped after the massive damage occurred to the three lines, and the system went “black”. It happened so fast that the “brownout” system was unable to work in time.
Electricity system operators then enacted their emergency plan to carefully switch things back on, in a way that would balance supply and demand, and not cause damage to any assets. Some industry experts congratulated network operators for beginning to switch suburbs back on just over three hours after the blackout.
However, many other commentators were quick to capitalise on the event, implying or even stating that it was or was not directly attributable to the wind farms that characterise South Australia’s electricity grid. Media and its comments pages blazed with opinion and unverified, incorrect or poorly-understood “facts” and assertions. Within a week, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) published a preliminary report into the blackout, but its clarification that it did not yet know the whole story started another round of speculation and counter-speculation.
Many questions remain: about the age and maintenance of the pylons that failed; about the settings on the safety switches on the wind turbines; about the reasons that more gas generators were not available, given the weather prediction; and about whether the existing regulations, designed for an old-style, fossil fuel-based system, adequately support a new-style, renewable-based system, among others.
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Energy Policy Update: See-saw pricing
Swings in the market see gas and electricity prices go up and up ... and just maybe down.
The South Australian government has announced plans to launch a tender for supply of 75% of its long term electricity needs. Its intention is to encourage a new competitor to join the region’s electricity market, to ultimately push prices lower.
On the other hand, a decision to provide $24 million in incentives to gas extraction companies, has been criticised by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis as being unlikely to make any price difference to consumers of gas.
Wholesale gas prices rose recently as producers took advantage of lucrative export contracts.
And meanwhile, gas-fired electricity generators have been accused of taking advantage of rules that enable them to increase the price they are paid for electricity by withholding supply at crucial moments in the pricing cycle. The Australian Energy Market Commission is considering a proposed change to the rules to reduce this 'gaming of the market'.
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 “Utilities Pursuit”
Your UL Quiz!
Well done again to everyone who participated in the last quiz. (Drum roll ...) our three lucky winners were:
- Karen Hicks, Financial Capability Worker, Salvation Army
- Cindy Davies, Paramedical Aide, SAHS
- Liliana Starkey, Volunteer, The Open Door, UCWB
Congratulations Karen, Cindy and Liliana. The correct answers:
- B. $3,000
- A. $14 per kWh
- C. Affordable SA app
Three multiple choice questions to test your UL knowledge. All responses with three correct answers will go into a DRAW to win a double pass to the movies (send your entries in by 18 November). Our tip? Answers to all of the questions can be found in this edition of the BULB - Ready, Steady, Go!
1. How many different half-day Utilities Literacy workshops are offered in Term 4 2016?
A. 2
B. 4
C. 5
2. According to AER statistics, what was the average debt for electricity in the first quarter 2016?
A. $776
B. $406
C. $1,500
3. This financial year SA Water dropped consumption charges for residents by...
A. 10%
B. 3%
C. or 7%?
Done! Send us the answers with your name and a postal address for your chance to win a double cinema pass.
The fine print: Any subscriber to the BULB can send us a response to the Quiz, however eligibility for the prize is restricted to graduates of utilities literacy training.
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The UL JukeBox
 In honour of the recent storm, how about this classic from an Australian band named after two types of electrical flow: Alternating Current and Direct Current ... Thunderstruck!
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Don't forget to send in your success stories!
We would like to celebrate and promote what you have done to assist members of the community to reduce hardship associated with electricity, gas and water utilities.
If you can share examples of ways you have helped, either with an individual client or group, we would love to know. Your story might inspire or encourage other community workers.
Whether it is a couple of lines or a couple of paragraphs, whatever it takes to tell us what you did, and what difference it has made, we are keen to hear from you. Who knows, maybe your story will be published in the next edition of the BULB!
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The Utilities Literacy Program supports people to reduce financial hardship associated with electricity, gas and water utilities.
4 ways to manage your energy and water bills
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