Development and Introduction of the Quality Control Program of Commercial Service (GE0061)

Development and introduction of the quality control program of commercial service; In the framework of the Action Plan, Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (further on, Commission) shall ensure development and introduction of the program of quality control of commercial service. The Commission by Resolution #13 of July 25, 2016 approved “Commercial Quality Rules of Service” which aims at improving commercial quality of service rendered to customers by electricity and natural gas distribution licensees, water supply licensees and natural gas suppliers (further on, enterprise). Commercial quality of service is important from the point of view of customers’ rights since it consists of key standards for electricity and natural gas distribution and accessibility of customers in the field of water supply and customers’ rights protection, which is a vital issue both internally and internationally. For example, as of 2011, in the framework of the project Doing Business, in the common rating developed by WB, Georgia occupied 17th position, however, in one of the criteria of the survey, access to the electricity (connecting to the network), Georgia occupied only 91st position. After the Commission adopted and introduced regulation addressing customer access to the service of connecting to the network, Georgia moved from 91st to 50th position. Now the main challenge of the Commission is development and regulation of an efficient mechanism for monitoring commercial service quality. One of the components is to inform customers about their enterprise rights and obligations, which will improve accountability and transparency regarding customers’ rights. Date ofImplementation: 2016-2017; Issues to be Addressed: Rules for commercial quality of service promotes unified approach towards certain issues, among which are recording data about commercial quality of service rendered by the enterprise to the customers and presenting to the Commission information about commercial quality of services rendered to the customers: a) Inform customers about the date and duration of the planned interruption. b) Recover supply to customers after unplanned interruption; c) Timespan between the phone call initiation and the answer by a call-center operator. The program will facilitate observance of rules of commercial quality by enterprises and formation of a unified standard. As a result of introduction of the program the Commission will be able to permanently keep an eye on the processes of informing customers and rendering them services by enterprises. This will simplify elimination of potential violations and improvement of the quality of commercial services. Furthermore, the statistics obtained as a result of the program implementations will be publicly accessible that will facilitate informing customers about the types and quality of services rendered by enterprises, realizing customers’ rights smoothly and improving accountability of enterprises. Main Objective: Protect customers’ rights to introduce set standards of commercial service quality, prevent potential violation, support introduction of new standards and criteria of commercial quality.

20. Development and introduction of the quality control program of commercial service

Commitment Text:

In the framework of the Action Plan, Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (further on, Commission) shall ensure development and introduction of the program of quality control of commercial service.

The Commission by Resolution #13 of July 25, 2016 approved “Commercial Quality Rules of Service” which aims at improving commercial quality of service rendered to customers by electricity and natural gas distribution licensees, water supply licensees and natural gas suppliers (further on, enterprise).

Commercial quality of service is important from the point of view of customers’ rights since it consists of key standards for electricity and natural gas distribution and accessibility of customers in the field of water supply and customers’ rights protection, which is a vital issue both internally and internationally. For example, as of 2011, in the framework of the project Doing Business, in the common rating developed by WB, Georgia occupied 17^th position, however, in one of the criteria of the survey, access to the electricity (connecting to the network), Georgia occupied only 91^st position. After the Commission adopted and introduced regulation addressing customer access to the service of connecting to the network, Georgia moved from 91^st to 50^th position.

Now the main challenge of the Commission is development and regulation of an efficient mechanism for monitoring commercial service quality. One of the components is to inform customers about their enterprise rights and obligations, which will improve accountability and transparency regarding customers’ rights.

Responsible institution(s): Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: January 2016 End date: December 2017

Commitment Aim:

The Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC) committed to develop an internal mechanism to monitor performance of utility companies according to nine standards set out in the law, “Commercial Quality Rules of Service,” adopted in 2016. The commitment envisioned developing a quality assurance program to improve service, as well as protecting the rights of customers through monitoring and recording company violations.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

By the midterm, the commitment was substantially implemented. The program allowing the Commission to monitor service provision was launched in February 2017. The program consists of nine standards to assess companies, although a few standards are difficult to implement. For example, one standard is that if a company ceases utility provision due to delayed customer payment, the company must resume service within five hours of payment. Otherwise, the company must pay the customer five GEL compensation. As of August 2017, the GNERC had yet to implement all nine standards of envisioned by the program. For more information, please see the 2016–2017 IRM midterm report. [97] 

End of term: Complete

The quality assurance program was functional as of 1 January 2017, with the compensation mechanism being implemented in July 2017. According to a GNERC representative, the GNERC’s website and social media page regularly has information on citizen rights and their protection mechanisms, as well as information on violations by the licensees and GNERC’s response. [98] However, sometimes such information is published in the news section of the website, and therefore, is quickly archived and difficult to find later.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did Not Change

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

Public Accountability: Did Not Change

The GNERC aimed to create a quality assurance program to monitor delivery of utility services by the licensees, register violations, and react in a timely manner to protect customer rights. All nine standards of the program are fully functional. The program is vital for ensuring that service delivery is in line with “Commercial Quality Rules of Service,” and thus, improves service delivery to end-users. While GNERC publishes some information on citizen’s rights on its website, the commitment itself is internally focused, and did not lead to increasing citizen access to information, nor did it create new mechanisms for civic participation or public accountability.

Carried Forward?

The commitment was not carried into the new Action Plan 2018−2019.

[98] Tamar Bazgadze (Leading Specialist in the Legal Department, GNERC), e-mail correspondence with IRM researcher, 12 Oct. 2018.