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ORDINARY MEETING

10 DECEMBER 20149

CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS

M Wuth/T Veronese | 1/58/13 | #4529874v1

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Customer Service Standards be endorsed for submission to the Department of Energy and Water Supply for approval.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008, requires Water Service Providers to develop Customer Service Standards for the delivery of water and wastewater services.

In July 2014, the Department of Energy and Water Supply (DEWS) notified service providers of their requirements for including mandatory key performance indicators in the customer service standards and that public consultation would be required. Consultation has been conducted over October and November.

Water and Waste are now seeking Council’s endorsement to supply the customer service standards document to the Department of Energy and Water Supply for their approval prior to the December deadline.

BACKGROUND:

According to the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 s.115, water service providers are required to prepare and publish Customer Service Standards. According to the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 s.113 the purpose s to ensure customers who do not have a contract with the service provider for the supply ofregistered services (a service contract) are protected by standards relating to the supply.

The Customer Service Standards must state the following:

1. A target for the level of service to be provided for Customer Service Standard Key Performance Indicator’s;

2. The process for service connections, billing, metering, accounting, customer consultation, complaints and dispute resolution;

In addition to the water and wastewater Customer Service Standards, standards have also been established for waste and recycling services and Customer assistance performance goals.

Council has previously endorsed the customer service standards document in November 2011.

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The details for Customer Service Standards advised by DEWS state that water service providers are required to undertake customer consultation in the development of the CSS. The advice stipulates that the consultation methodology required is to make the document available on the Council web site and invite comment. The comments should be considered in generating the final draft of the document.

COMMENT:

Water and Waste reports on key indicators in the Customer Service Standards on a monthly basis, via the monthly report to the Water and Waste Committee. The Water and Waste department have recently undertaken a full review of the existing Customer Service Standards document and have also reviewed other authorities of similar size to ensure the document is consistent and encompassing appropriate detail.

Where required, targets are based on the median reported in the National Performance Review for Council’s considered to be in Cairns peer group.

It is anticipated that DEWS will review the targets for all water service providers in approximately 12months and may also review the content of the Customer Service Standards.

CONSIDERATIONS:

Corporate and Operational Plans:

Corporate Plan: 4.2 Committed and responsive customer service focusOperational Plan: 4.0 Governance, as a major initiative and key operational activity.

Statutory:

The Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 requires all Water Service Providers to have customer service standards when a service contract is not had with all of its customers.

Policy:

Trade waste policy, Revenue policy, Debt recovery policy, Concealed leak policy, Dialysis policy.

Financial and Risk:

There is no direct financial risk associated with this document.

Sustainability:

Encouraging and facilitating environmentally sustainable economic, social and cultural development and prosperity for Cairns.

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CONSULTATION:

Water and Waste customer facing branches including Operations, Infrastructure and Waste and Environment have been consulted during the creation of the Customer Service Standards document.

Finance and Customer service have also been consulted to ensure sections such as billing etc reflected accurate policy development.

Corporate Governance has been consulted to ensure recent Ombudsmen requests for process development have also been included in the document.

A Councillor workshop was conducted in September to discuss the detail of the Customer Service document with, particular attention on the Customer Assistance section of the document.

Water and Waste also utilised the Cairns, Townsville, Mackay (CTM) Alliance as a sounding board for the review methodology used and the level of detail captured in the document.

Customer consultation took place during the month of October.

OPTIONS:

Nil.

CONCLUSION:

Water and Waste recommend endorsing the submission of the customer service standards document to the Department of Energy and Water Supply before the December deadline for compliance.

ATTACHMENTS:

Water and Waste - Customer Service Standards (#4297502)

Mark WuthCoordinator Regulatory and System Support

Alex UngA/General Manager Water and Waste

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