Energy Charter retailers are continuing to offer support to their customers and communities impacted by COVID-19.

Aurora Energy, Tasmania’s largest energy retailer, is trialling a new payment support program as part of a broader “We can help” campaign to incentivise engagement with Aurora’s Your Energy Support (YES) hardship program. The YES program helps customers to get on top of their bills when they need it most, offering affordable payment plans, energy efficiency advice and protection from disconnection.

From March 2021, customers on Aurora’s YES program, who are meeting their payment commitments at their quarterly review, will now receive a credit to the value of their next instalment (up to $200). Effectively, Aurora will make one payment on the customer’s behalf each quarter for the next six months to help them get back on track.  

“We recognise that there are still challenging times ahead for homes and businesses in Tasmania due to the pandemic, and we’re committed to doing what we can to assist,” Chief Operating Officer, Kane Ingham said.

The extra support is being promoted alongside existing initiatives, including Aurora’s $5M COVID-19 Customer Support Fund with the key message being, “We can help”.

“The new payment support program is designed to help those customers who need it the most. It’s also a reminder to those who haven’t been in contact with us that support is available – all you need to do is ask,” Mr Ingham said.

This is how an agile business response puts the Energy Charter principles directly into effect for better outcomes for customers. To find out more about extra support available, please visit your energy retailer’s website.

This research was conducted by Deloitte to understand the degree of customer vulnerability, as well as customers’ consumption and sentiment towards energy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic via survey between February 11th to February 21st 2021. It relevantly found:

• 36% of people are optimistic about Australia’s economic direction
• 50% of people agreed that COVID-19 had increased their stress levels
• 41% of people on JobSeeker reported that financial stress keeps them up at night
• 36% of people indicated that they are spending more on energy bills over the last 3 months
• A range of survey responses are trending positively (when compared to Wave 1), pointing to signs of recovery
• The pandemic has increased stress levels for many, and significant concern about the lasting impacts of COVID-19 will see that trend likely continue
• The impacts of COVID-19 are being felt more significantly by vulnerable groups. But it is JobSeekers who are falling further into hardship
• There is an upward trend in both those receiving and potentially needing support, in response to the increase in energy bills and the balancing of household spend

The snapshot Placemat and full Report are now available on Energy Charter website.

The National Farmers Federation approached the Energy Charter to see whether there was an opportunity to work together with industry to deliver better outcomes for farmers and rural communities.

There was a recognised opportunity to improve engagement between energy businesses, landowners and others regarding asset development, particularly in light of AEMO’s Integrated System Plan (ISP) and ongoing development of renewable assets in agricultural land areas across Australia.

The #BetterTogether Better Landowner Engagement initiative was launched in early 2021. Co-collaborators include Powerlink Queensland, TransGrid, APA together with the National Farmers Federation, NSW Farmers Association, Queensland Farmers’ Federation, Victorian Farmers Federation, AG Force Qld, the Clean Energy Council, Energy Networks Australia and AEMO.

Using the #BetterTogether innovation framework of ideate, incubate and accelerate, we are working together through a series of co-design workshops to highlight pain points and design guidelines and better practice models on engagement between transmission businesses and landowners. We are also exploring early engagement in the ISP and related transmission issues for landowners. The agriculture industry would also like to see good practice guidelines for how to discuss compensation for landowners.

Ash Salardini of National Farmers Federation said, “Getting the agriculture industry, the energy industry and regulators around the same table was a very positive step in addressing the challenge around effective engagement.”

The #BetterTogether initiative is currently co-designing a Better Practice Framework for Landowner and Community Engagement. In addition, Energy Networks Australia has recently produced information on the role of transmission in the delivery of electricity to our communities.

Customer voice is critical for cultural change towards customer-centricity.  When properly structured and applied, authentic customer engagement can provide practical insights into what’s working, what’s expected and what’s important to our customers.  Importantly, this enables energy businesses to remain adaptable and responsive to customer needs and expectations within the continuously changing and transforming market.

The Better Practice Customer Engagement Toolkit offers a framework for putting this into action. It includes:

• Types and examples of better practice principles that demonstrate ways to be genuine, open and inclusive with different groups of customers and stakeholders as highlighted in the Energy Charter Shared Learning Customer Engagement Platform
• Key considerations when designing an engagement process including defining a purpose, who to engage, what topic and useful tools such as to the IAP2 Spectrum framework
• How to encourage better outcomes highlighting the importance of closing the feedback loop and planning future engagement opportunities.

The Better Practice Customer Engagement Toolkit was developed through the #BetterTogether ‘Know your Customers and Communities’ initiative led by APA and Essential Energy, supported by Endeavour Energy, Energy Queensland, Jemena, Horizon Power, Powerlink Queensland and TransGrid.

The research is being conducted in four quarterly rounds over 2020-2021. Insights will be leveraged to better understand customers impacted by COVID-19 and how the energy sector can support them.

Wave 1, Quarter 4 research was conducted to understand the degree of customer vulnerability, as well as customers’ consumption and sentiment towards energy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic via survey between October 23rd to November 2nd 2020. The national survey across 3,000+ people found:

• 20% of people have either had their working hours reduced or lost their job due to COVID-19 and 37% of people have experienced a decrease in household income
• 47% of people stated that 2020 has been a difficult year for them
• 37% of people indicated that over the last 3 months, energy bills were the household item where their spending had increased the most
• In the next 3 months, a quarter of people are intending to reduce spending on essential items, and half will take conscious behavioural changes to use energy more efficiently
• For people who are currently receiving or may need energy bill support, bill discounts and energy tips communicated on a monthly basis via email was the most preferred communication model

The snapshot placemat and full report are now available on Energy Charter website.

Made up of 18 energy companies, including generators, distribution and transmission businesses, and retailers, Energy Charter signatories have pledged to work closer together over the next twelve months to do even more to support customers as they recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

Following its annual review of Energy Charter signatory disclosures, the Independent Accountability Panel (IAP) released its second annual report today and encouraged industry to be proactive and collaborative in response to customers in vulnerable circumstances and the energy transition.

Chair of the Energy Charter CEO Council, Ben Wilson said that 2020 had been an extremely challenging year for energy consumers, with bushfires, floods and the global pandemic. The unique structure of the Energy Charter allowed companies from across all areas of the supply chain to collaborate through #BetterTogether initiatives to support customers. This was recognised by the IAP as a credit to signatories on their commitment to supporting customers.

Key achievements over the past 12 months included:

• Launching a focused awareness campaign “We’ve got you” during COVID-19 to inform customers of the help available to them, translated across 10 languages.
• All signatories publishing customer satisfaction scores– an industry first.
• Driving more than 10 #BetterTogether initiatives that saw groups of businesses working together to deliver outcomes for customers such as improving electricity and gas connections, getting concessions to the right people and improving energy literacy for culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

“We are two years into our journey and there have been definite improvements for energy customers and communities, but we recognise there is more we can do,’ Mr Wilson said.

“The Independent Accountability Panel’s message is clear. We need to do more to support customers as households and businesses get up and running after the many challenges this year. We need to come together to better plan the path to meeting customer and community expectations on net zero by 2050.”

“We thank the Independent Accountability Panel for their report and recommendations. The Energy Charter signatories will continue to collaborate across industry and with customer advocates to deliver on these recommendations over the next twelve months to benefit customers.”

”With this feedback and the momentum we have established, we also look forward to increasing our signatory base by encouraging all energy businesses to join, as well as reach out to wider industry-related organisations and influencers, to ensure we capture a broader range of voices and customer groups.” 

During its review, the Independent Accountability Panel analysed the disclosure reports submitted by Energy Charter signatories, interviewed CEOs and held stakeholder and public forums. Led by Clare Petre as Chair, the IAP includes Cassandra Goldie, CEO Australian Council of Social Service and Andrew Richards, CEO Energy Users Association of Australia.

The 2020 Independent Accountability Panel Report is available for download via IAP website