Guaranteed Service Standards

Guernsey Electricity Ltd (GEL) takes very seriously its commitment of providing the best service possible, and as such GEL has welcomed the Office of Utility Regulation's (OUR) expansion of GEL's Service Standard initiative introduced on the first day of commercialisation in February 2002.

There are now two sets of Standards:-

Guaranteed Service Standards - where, if the company fails to deliver the pre-determined level of service to a customer for any of the services covered by the Guaranteed Service Standards listed, the company will pay that customer compensation for that failure.

Overall Service Standards - while indicating the level of service an individual customer can expect, their purpose is to set the minimum levels of overall performance the company is expected to achieve for specific service areas over a 12 month period

Guaranteed Service Standards for Guernsey Electricity Limited

Code	Service	Performance Level	Penalty Payment	Payments Made
GS1	Service Fuse Failures	To repair faults inside GEL's electricity network within three hours of notification.	£25	0
GS2	Restoring Supplies	Supplies must be restored within 18 hours (except in exceptional circumstances as approved by the OUR).	£50 domestic customers, £100 non-domestic. Domestic and non-domestic entitled to £25 for each additional 12 hours.	0
GS3	Providing a Supply	To connect new customers with an existing supply of electricity within three working days.	£25	0
GS4	Supply Interruptions	To give customers at least five working days notice when the supply of electricity is to be temporarily interrupted during planned maintenance work.	£25	0
GS5	Voltage complaints	To investigate the reasons within seven working days and correct within six months.	£25	0
GS6	Charges and Payments	If a customer makes a written (including fax, email) query regarding the account for the supply of electricity or method of payment which requires a reply, the company will make that reply within three working days.	£25	0
GS7	Meter Disputes	To investigate and explain why meters might be operating outside acceptable margins of error within seven working days.	£25	0
GS8	Pre-payment meters	When a GEL prepayment meter has failed, GEL will visit the customers' premises within four hours of notification.	£25	0
GS9	Changing a meter	When a customer wants to change method of payment or tariff, GEL will change the meter within seven working days.	£25	0
GS10	Making and Keeping Appointments	GEL must offer and keep a morning or afternoon appointment, or a timed appointment if agreed with GEL (within 30 minutes and excludes non-core business).	£25	0
GS11	Notifying customers of payments owed under the standards	Payment to be made within 10 working days (excluding exceptional circumstances approved by the OUR).	£20	0
GS12	Estimate of charge	When a new electrical supply needs to be installed or an existing supply altered, GEL to provide an estimate of the charge within five working days.	£10	0

Overall Service Standards for Guernsey Electricity Limited

Reporting Code	Service Standard	Service	Target	% Achieved
OS1	Restoring Supplies	Minimum percentage of supplies to be reconnected following faults within three hours.	90%	96.15%
OS2	Estimate of charge	To be provided within 15 working days if significant network reinforcement is required.	97%	100%
OS3	Meter Readings	To obtain actual meter reading from all customers at least once a year.	99.5%	99.84%
OS4	Customer correspondence	To answer supply or distribution queries within 10 working days.	100%	100%
OS5a	Cable Enquiries	Respond to single site / cable enquiries inside one hour	97%	99.18%
OS5b	Cable Enquiries	Respond to multiple site / cable enquiries within two working days	98%	100%
OS6	Pollution	Answer complaints regarding pollution within eight hours of notification.	98%	100%
OS7	Relocating meter	Relocating meters at customer's request within 15 days.	95%

General Exemptions

The general exemptions that apply to all of the guaranteed standards are:

1. If the customer informs Guernsey Electricity Limited before the standard deadline that he does not want Guernsey Electricity to take any action or any further action.

2. If the customer agrees that action already taken by Guernsey Electricity Limited meets the requirement of the standard. But where Guernsey Electricity Limited has promised to take further action, that action must be taken without undue delay if this exemption is to be invoked.

3. If, in order to meet the Standard, information is required to be given by the customer to Guernsey Electricity Limited, and the customer either fails to provide the specified information or sends the information to an address other than the one which Guernsey Electricity Limited has indicated, or (where appropriate) telephones with the information at a time outside reasonable hours as notified by Guernsey Electricity Limited.

4. It was not reasonably practicable for Guernsey Electricity Limited to have complied with the requirements because of:
   1. severe weather; or
   2. industrial action by Guernsey Electricity Limited's staff;
   3. an action or default by someone other than Guernsey Electricity Limited's employee or agent;
   4. an inability to gain access to relevant premises; or the likelihood that Guernsey Electricity Limited would break the law if an employee or agent complied; or
   5. other exceptional circumstances beyond Guernsey Electricity Limited's control.

5. It was reasonable to regard information from the customer as being frivolous or vexatious.

The service standards for the following years are also available:
2002 - 2003
2003 - 2004
2004 - 2005
2005 - 2006
2006 - 2007
2007 - 2008
2008 - 2009
2009 - 2010

If you want more information about our customer service standards and how we monitor them, please contact Phil Miles on 01481 200700, or send an email.