Zinfra is marking 12 months since commencing its Distribution Operations and Maintenance Services Agreement (DOMSA) with AusNet. Energy Source & Distribution sits down with One Distribution general manager James Quigley who looks after DOMSA operations at Zinfra.
James, please tell us a bit about yourself:
I’ve been married for 26 years and have two adult children, aged 18 and 21. Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with family and friends and getting out for a round of golf whenever I can.
Professionally, I’ve spent most of my career in the utilities sector and have been with Zinfra for the past 15 years. I’m a qualified accountant by background, but my experience extends across finance, commercial leadership, innovation and major contract negotiations. Throughout my career at Zinfra, I’ve held a number of senior leadership roles, helping drive business performance, deliver strategic initiatives and support the growth and evolution of the organisation.
Today, as general manager of Zinfra’s One Distribution business unit, I bring that broad commercial, strategic and operational perspective to leading a significant frontline workforce delivering critical electricity network services across Victoria.
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What does your role at Zinfra entail?
Zinfra’s One Distribution business unit comprises almost 600 employees who deliver maintenance, fault response, construction, and operational services across AusNet’s distribution network in Victoria.
Our frontline workforce is supported by teams across planning, scheduling, health, safety and environment, logistics, human resources, administration, commercial, and finance functions. My role is about ensuring all these disciplines work together to safely deliver for our client while supporting reliable electricity supply for the communities that depend on the network every day.
A key focus for me is developing the next generation of energy workers. In our first year under the DOMSA contract, we welcomed 26 new apprentices into the business. More broadly across Zinfra, we’ve recently welcomed 77 new apprentices and trainees into our 2026 program, our largest and most diverse intake to date, including a record 32% female participation rate and 6.4% First Nations participation.
It’s been a year since Zinfra commenced its Distribution Operations and Maintenance Services Agreement (DOMSA) with AusNet. What can you tell us about this partnership and how the AusNet and Zinfra teams collaborate?
Reaching the first anniversary of the DOMSA is an important milestone and one that demonstrates the strength of the partnership we’ve built with AusNet. The agreement covers essential operations and maintenance services across AusNet’s electricity distribution network, supporting planned maintenance, customer connections, fault response and network improvements across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.
To support this expanded scope, Zinfra welcomed approximately 570 employees into the business, including 462 field-based employees and 108 depot-based roles. Together, these teams help maintain an electricity network that spans 89,000 square kilometres across some of Victoria’s most diverse and challenging operating environments.
What has been particularly pleasing over the past 12 months is the collaborative approach between our teams and AusNet. We work together to solve operational challenges, improve workflows, identify innovation opportunities and align around shared goals.
At Zinfra, we see ourselves as more than a contractor. We’re a trusted partner in energy. Success is measured by the outcomes we achieve together for customers and communities. Whether that’s maintaining network reliability, responding to severe weather events or helping prepare the network for future energy demands, our focus is always on delivering safe, reliable, and resilient outcomes.
What have been the biggest challenges as well as highlights during this first year?
The transition period was undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges. Integrating new systems, processes and ways of working while maintaining network performance and safety required a significant effort from both organisations.
One of the highlights was how quickly our teams worked together to stabilise operations and continue delivering critical services throughout the Bushfire Mitigation Period. Across the year, we completed more than 7,000 hours of bushfire mitigation work and managed over 4,500 notifications during peak fire season.
The coordinated response to the January bushfires in Longwood and Walwa was another standout example of the partnership between AusNet and Zinfra. Integrated teams restored power to 10,000 customers, repaired or replaced more than 350 poles within eight weeks, with zero safety incidents across AusNet’s distribution network. The commitment from everyone involved was extraordinary and demonstrated the critical role our people play in supporting communities when they need us most.
Over the broader Network Delivery program, teams completed more than 300,000 hours of work including 30,000 fault repair jobs helping maintain a safe and reliable electricity supply for more than 802,000 customers across Eastern Victoria. We’ve also improved planning and scheduling processes, increased work throughput and reduced legacy work backlogs.
Perhaps the achievement I’m most proud of is our people. We successfully transitioned hundreds of new employees into the business while continuing to invest heavily in apprentices, trainees and workforce capability. The way our teams have embraced change, supported one another, and maintained a strong focus on safety and customer outcomes has been exceptional.
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What are some of the unseen complexities of distribution network maintenance?
People often don’t see the planning, coordination and expertise required to maintain a modern electricity network safely and reliably.
The AusNet network covers 89,000 square kilometres and spans metropolitan, regional, alpine, agricultural, and bushfire-prone areas. Everyday our teams are balancing safety, customer expectations, regulatory compliance, environmental obligations, resource availability, and changing weather conditions.
Even initiatives such as our Big Day Out, where we align multiple projects in and around one geographical location, require extensive planning. Behind the scenes there is significant coordination around logistics, workforce scheduling, equipment mobilisation, customer communications, and safety planning to ensure works can be delivered efficiently and safely.
This is where innovation becomes increasingly important. Through improved planning systems, scheduling practices, data-driven decision making and closer collaboration with AusNet, we’ve been able to increase productivity, reduce backlogs and improve delivery outcomes.
As the energy sector continues to evolve, organisations like Zinfra play an important role in bringing together frontline expertise, innovation, and operational excellence to support a network that is critical to Australia’s energy future.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Spending time with family and friends is incredibly important to me, and I also enjoy playing golf.
