Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Introduction: ESA is inviting comment on planned adjustments to fees charged for permits to do work under the Ontario Electrical Safety Code. Feedback received during the consultation will be considered by ESA in making a final decision regarding these fees. Background and information on how to participate in this consultation are included in this document.
Key Dates: Consultation opened for comment: Consultation closed: Posting of results of consultation: Proposed effective date of fee adjustments:
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
May 27, 2015 5 p.m. June 19, 2015 July, 2015 January 8, 2016
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
About Wiring Fees In Ontario an electrical permit needs to be taken out before or within 48 hours of starting electrical installation, repair and replacement work covered under the Ontario Electrical Safety Code. Electrical permits are priced based on the nature of the work being done. A Fee Guide details those wiring fees. ESA regularly reviews those fees and when significant changes are planned gets stakeholder feedback.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Participating in this Consultation This public consultation is open to any interested party. To participate: 1. review the proposed changes detailed in this document; 2. submit comments on any or all of the proposals (based on their relevance to you); 3. refer to the questions on page 13 of this document when preparing your response; 4. in your response clearly indicate on which proposal(s) you are commenting; 5. you must include the following information: • name of the responding individual or organization • phone and/or email contact information • to what stakeholder group you belong: - electrical contracting business - individual electrician - Local Distribution company - the general public - safety organization - regulator - industry or trade association - other 6. submit comments in writing in one of the following formats: • using the response form provided (do not PDF), or • a Word document (do not PDF), or • in the text of an email 7. email your comments to
[email protected] 8. submit your comments by no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, June 19, 2015.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Summary of Proposed Changes: ESA is considering eight changes to the wiring fee schedule:
1. 2. 3.
4.
5. 6.
7. 8.
Labour fee items increase approx 1.75% from $150 to $153, and $300 to $305 (see page 5.) Plan Review fees increases approx 1.75% from $296 to $301 (see page 6.) All Service Reconnect items set to the same 2015 fee of $296. This means Fee item MI34 (Single Family Dwelling) and Fee Item MI38 (Industrial/commercial/ institutional) increase from $271 to $ 296. Then 1% fee increase applied. (see page 7.) Miscellaneous fees equalize at 2015 rate of $150 and then increased 1% for 2016. This means Fee Item MI27 “Processing Defects After Specified Correction Time has Expired” adjusted from $144 to $150 (see page 8.) An adjustment to the way fees are set for very large New Residential Single Family Dwellings to better reflect their complexity (see page 9.) An adjustment to the way fees are set for large New Apartment Buildings to better reflect their complexity (see page 10.) An adjustment to fees associated with TV, feature film and commercial shoots from variable to flat rate pricing (see page 11.) All other wiring fee items adjusted by an average 1% after the above adjustments are taken into account (see page 12.)
More information on each proposed adjustment is provided in the following pages.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 1 Labour fees increase approx 1.75% from $150 to $153, and $300 to $305. Rationale for Change: ESA is proposing to adjust these fees in order to bring them closer to achieving cost recovery. That is, that the revenue generated would come closer to covering the cost generated to execute the associated work, after ESA has first sought to achieve efficiencies and cost restraints. The planned adjustments would be as follows: Fee Code IN01 FM01 C005 C050 C052 C063 C064 C065 C072 C075 MI04 MI05 MI06 MI12 R043
Description HAZARD INVESTIGATION GENERAL INSPECTION - FIRE MARSHAL ORDER HV SUBSTATION MAINTENANCE-OPEN AIR PRIMARY/SECONDARY TRENCH INSPECTION GROUNDING HV SUBSTATION MAINTENANCE -TLO HV SUBSTN MTCE-METALCLAD SWITCHGEAR HV SUB STATION MAINTENANCE - INDOOR LOW VOLTAGE SERVICE MAINTENANCE SPECIAL EVENT ADDITIONAL VISIT/MISCELLANEOUS FEE CONSULTING SERVICES COST RECOVERY FEE WORKING WITHOUT AN APPLICATION TRAVEL COSTS
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
2015 Fee 2016 Fee 150.00 153.00 300.00 305.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 300.00 305.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00 150.00 153.00
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 2 Plan Review minimum 2 hour fee increases approximately 1.75% from $296 to $301 with each additional hour from $148 to $151. This fee is charged when ESA Plan Review department reviews and audits a specific project plan for compliance per rule 2-010 of the Ontario Electrical Safety Code. Rationale for Change: ESA is proposing to adjust the fee in order to bring it closer to achieving cost recovery for this activity. That is, that the revenue generated would come closer to covering the cost generated to execute the associated work, after ESA has first sought to achieve efficiencies and cost restraints.
Fee Code Description PL01 PLAN REVIEW PL02 PLAN REVIEW - HIGH VOLTAGE
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
2015 Fee 2016 Fee 296.00 301.00 296.00 301.00
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 3 The 2015 fees to reconnect service after fire, flood or other disaster is $296 (MI31, MI32 & MI33). Reconnect fee is currently $271 for Single Family Dwelling (MI34) and $271 for Industrial/commercial/ institutional (MI38). The proposal is to equalize all five reconnect fees at $296, and then apply 1% fee increase for 2016. These fees are charged when inspecting the site for reconnection of service after six months of non occupancy or non payment. Rationale for Change: ESA is proposing to adjust these fees in order to bring them closer to achieving cost recovery for this activity. That is, that the revenue generated would come closer to covering the cost generated to execute the associated work, after ESA has first sought to achieve efficiencies and cost restraints. In addition, ESA is responding to stakeholder feedback that the variance in fees in this category is unbalanced.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 4 Miscellaneous fees equalize at 2015 rate of $150 and then increase 1% for 2016. This means Fee Item MI27 “Processing Defects After Specified Correction Time has Expired” adjusts from $144 to $150, and then up 1% to $152 for 2016. Rationale for Change: ESA is proposing to adjust these fees in order to bring them closer to achieving cost recovery for this activity. That is, that the revenue generated would come closer to covering the cost generated to execute the associated work, after ESA has first sought to achieve efficiencies and cost restraints. In addition, ESA is responding to stakeholder feedback that the variance in fees in this category is unbalanced.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 5 An adjustment to the way fees are set for very large New Residential Single Family Dwellings. “Very large” to be defined for ESA’s purposes as 7,000 sq. ft. or more of indoor liveable space.
Fees for very large houses with existing service size breaks of up to 200A and between 201 to 400A would increase from $217 to $452; and for service size break 401A and over, fee calculation would follow Commercial pricing methods instead of Residential. Large house permits are entitled up to three inspection visits; for members of the Authorized Contractor Program (ACP), two visits. (For more information on ACP, go to esasafe.com/contractors/authorized-contractor-program.) Note: ESA had announced a change in pricing calculation for these items in January, 2015. Based on stakeholder feedback, ESA deferred the implementation of those changes, and gathered a working group of stakeholders who regularly do this type of installations. ESA considered that input when developing this pricing plan. The new pricing would come into effect on January 8, 2016. Rationale for Change: ESA has not had a way to account for the greater complexity of these very large installations and the effort required to complete the inspection process. As a temporary solution, an extra visit fee was being applied but this was not an accurate reflection of the activity actually involved and was unpredictable for stakeholders. Consideration was given to defining service size break of anything over 100Amp as a very large house and increasing those fees, but the result would be that thousands of 125A, 150A and 200A permits would subsidize the truly few very large complex ‘monster’ houses. In this proposed approach, the vast majority of new house permits will not need to calculate square footage but simply indicate “less than 7,000 sq ft.” Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 6 An adjustment to the way fees are set for large New Apartment Buildings. The existing fee of $96 for each of the first 4 units will remain. The fee for additional units will remain $47 per unit when the device count per unit is less than 80, but increase to $96 per unit when over 80 devices per unit. Note: ESA had announced a change in pricing calculation for these items in January, 2015. Based on stakeholder feedback, ESA deferred the implementation of those changes, and gathered working groups of stakeholders who regularly do this type of installations. ESA considered that input when developing this pricing plan. The new pricing would come into effect on January 8, 2016. Rationale for Change: ESA has not had a way to account for the greater complexity of these large installations and the effort required to complete the inspection process. An extra visit fee is being inconsistently applied but is not an accurate reflection of the activity actually involved and is unpredictable for stakeholders. Stakeholder input indicates 50 to 60 devices/unit is average for rental type units. ESA research into condo projects floor plans also indicated that the vast majority have fewer than 80 devices. Therefore this fee would affect only a small portion of all apartment projects.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 7 An adjustment to fees for feature film, TV and commercial shoots from variable pricing to two flat rate prices: short run and long run. Short run will be considered under 6 months and 40 locations and priced at $8,200. Long run will be considered more than 6 months and 40 locations and priced at $16,400. Rationale for Change: These projects evolve significantly from initial planning through their execution e.g. extensions in days of filming, adding and subtracting of planned components, etc. Applying ESA’s existing fee structure based on an individual fee per location or stage, plus each generator plus weekly renewal of connection authorization, means initial assessments of fees are complicated to calculate and can vary significantly from the actual final fee. A flat rate pricing approach will provide stakeholders and ESA with predictability. Stakeholders involved in these projects have signaled a desire for a more predictable pricing model.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
Proposed Change 8 All other wiring fee items adjusted by an average 1% after the above adjustments are taken into account. This means after the previous fee changes are applied, ESA will increase the balance of the fees to achieve an overall 1% increase based on total wiring revenue. This means most wiring fees will actually be adjusted less than 1%. Rationale for Change: ESA is proposing to adjust these fees in order to bring them closer to achieving cost recovery for this activity. That is, that the revenue generated would come closer to covering the cost generated to execute the associated work, after ESA has first sought to achieve efficiencies and cost restraints.
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-01
See the instruction on page 3 about how to participate in the consultation. Questions for Feedback: 1.
What impact would you expect these change have on you or your organization?
2.
What actions would you or your business need to take were this change to be implemented?
3.
Do you anticipate any significant negative consequences from this change? If so what? (please be as specific as possible)
4.
In an effort to make consultations more accessible and easier to participate, we have changed the format of our consultation documents. Did you find this consultation material easy to understand?
5.
Do you have any other comments?
Opened: May 27, 2015. Closing date: June 19, 2015
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