Minimum service standards reporting

Electricity distributors are required to meet minimum service standards and report their quarterly and annual performance against these standards. These obligations are included in the distribution authorities issued by the Regulator to the electricity distributor under the Electricity Act 1994.

There are currently 2 Queensland distribution entities:

  • Energex Limited (Energex) in South East Queensland
  • Ergon Energy Corporation Limited (Ergon Energy) in regional Queensland.

Read the distribution authorities of Energex and Ergon Energy.

The annual minimum service standards performance results for Energex and Ergon Energy are published in Energy Queensland’s annual reports.

Minimum service standards

The minimum service standards set limits, for each financial year, on the frequency and duration of interruptions to Queensland’s distribution network.

An interruption includes any temporary loss of electricity supply to a customer caused by a problem in the electricity network but excludes the impacts of certain events (such as severe weather events).

Energex and Ergon Energy's minimum service standards limits are specified in their respective distribution authorities. They must aim to achieve a higher level of performance than the set limits.

Reliability performance measures

Reliability performance is expressed using the following measures:

  • System average interruption duration index (SAIDI) is the sum of the duration of each interruption (measured in minutes), divided by the total number of customers (averaged over the financial year).
  • System average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) is the total number of interruptions, divided by the total number of customers (averaged over the financial year).

These measures are based on the broad feeder categories of CBD, urban, short rural and long rural feeders. The minimum service standards limits differ between feeder categories, reflecting the performance that should reasonably be achieved for each category. The tables below identify the current SAIDI and SAIFI limits which apply to Energex and Ergon Energy.

SAIDI limits (minutes per customer)

Feeder typeEnergexErgon Energy
CBD 15 N/A
Urban 106 149
Short rural 218 424
Long ruralN/A964

SAIFI limits (interruptions per customer)

Feeder typeEnergexErgon Energy
CBD 0.15 N/A
Urban 1.26 1.98
Short rural 2.46 3.95
Long ruralN/A7.40