Membership

Why Should You Participate?

Why not? There’s no risk, you can cancel your contract at any time, and you will have the support of a great team of people from Utilities across the Province. Some of the other benefits are listed below:

1. One call/ one locate strategy expansion = Reduction in Damages & Cost

  • Consistent and Repeatable Processes= Plant Damage Reductions. By making it easy to both get locates and provide locates everyone wins. Since we created the LAC we’ve seen fewer damages by excavators and fewer mistakes by locators.

2. Financial Efficiencies

  • Multiple Facility Owners= Reduced cost per locate
  • Less Admin Work=Savings for service provider
  • Easy to Outsource= Consistent
  • Efficiency of managing the volume of work= One Call- One Locate Strategy

3. Best Practices Approach= Quality Improvement and Performance Management
4. Stakeholder Benefits
Owners- Improvements in damage reduction & cost reductions
Locators- Less Admin, Common Standards & Specs, efficiencies
Regulators- common Industry approach
Excavator- Improved overall service, consistent locates, reduced administration

Who is the agreement between?
The contract is between you (the Utility) and the Locate Service Provider. Although it is a generic contract it is still between each Utility and the LSP, not the LAC. The LAC simply creates an environment that is similar to a purchasing consortium where you are buying the same product from the same vendor as your counterparts at another organization and receiving a volume discount.

What participation is expected from me?
You can participate as much or as little as you want. The scorecards and reports are emailed to each Utility every month after which most member Utilities meet together with the LSP and review the results and service levels. Any concerns from the various parties are addresed and any issues are either resolved or action plans developed. These meetings typically last 1 to 2 hours and although we encourage members to attend it is not mandatory. Any party not in attendance will receive the meeting minutes along with everyone else.

Do I have a say in who gets the contract for my area?
Yes. Before the current contract expires we will evaluate the performance of the incumbent LSP and as a team decide what steps to take. This could be a contract extension or to go to the market in the form of the RFP. We will strive for 100% consensus to ensure all member requirements are met.