Design conformance review (DCR)
Design conformance review (DCR)
All projects – both with or without a third party audit and accompanying certificate of compliance - are required to be submitted to Western Power for a design conformance review.
If a developer chooses to obtain a third party audit, the independent auditor will perform a detailed review of the design and certify that the design is in accordance with Western Power’s design specifications.
This application can then be processed by a separate, dedicated engineering team due to the reduced likelihood of non-conformances and will therefore progress more quickly to quote.
Applications with electrical designs certified by an independent third party auditor have already been checked against Western Power’s design specifications. These applications can be assessed with a risk-based approach, which can significantly accelerate timeframes.
Western Power may still issue non-conformance advice if items requiring attention are identified during the DCR.
Please note: non conformances will impact timeframes.
A certificate of compliance is a document, with supporting documents, prepared by the auditor that certifies the consultant’s design is in strict accordance with Western Power’s design specifications.
The certificate of compliance will be signed by a qualified signing authority within the auditor’s organisation, and supported by design drawings that are dated and signed by the qualified individuals who reviewed the design for compliance. It will also reference any other relevant information relied upon for the audit.
An auditor is a person or organisation engaged by the developer to independently review the design consultant’s design, and ultimately provide a certificate of compliance that this design meets Western Power’s design requirements.
Auditors are usually part of an engineering consulting company and are engineers on the National Engineering Register for electrical and/or civil disciplines. They must have no actual or perceived relationship with the consultant that prepared the design package.
Multiple auditors may be engaged, as required, to interrogate their respective disciplines.
Western Power does not authorise or recommend auditors.
Information about the third party audit process can be found here.