The Energy Charter, Author at The Energy Charter

Register for the Energy Charter CEO Forum – Charting a Better Energy Future!

Join our panel of Energy Charter CEOs from across the nation on 6 December 2023 for our CEO Forum: Charting a Better Energy Future, hosted by Cath Smith, Chair of the End-User Consultative Group for the release of the Energy Charter Annual Disclosure 2023.

About the CEO Forum

Together we will review and reflect on the collective achievements for customers and communities through the #BetterTogether initiatives in response to our priority areas: cost-of-living crisis and energy transition.

We’ll also dive into the critical role of authentic accountability and transparency in enabling continuous improvement, as well as focus on the future opportunities to continue building towards creating a better energy future for all Australians.

We look forward to your engagement and participation in this CEO Forum to help shape better outcomes for customers and communities today, and into the future, as we transition to a more sustainable, reliable and affordable energy future.

Introducing the host + panellists

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Community of Practice – Stories from the frontline of the cost-of-living crunch

In our October Know Your Customers + Communities – Community of Practice, we heard firsthand from financial counsellors across Australia about how customers are managing the cost-of-living crisis specifically their energy and water bills.

Firsthand insights into the cost-of-living crisis with Financial Counselling Australia (FCA)

Leading the discussion was Fiona Guthrie, the CEO of Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), the national voice for the financial counselling profession in Australia.

To gain insights into cost-of-living crisis across the country, the panelists included:

From NSW: Vanessa Emergy, Financial Counsellor and Team Leader at Wesley Mission NSW, who represents FCA on the Australian Energy Regulator Consumer Consultative Group
From QLD: Rose McGrath, Financial Counsellor at YFS QLD
From Tasmania: Danielle Slade, Financial Counsellor at Anglicare TAS and President of the Financial Counsellors Association Tasmania
From Victoria: Andrea Osborne, Financial Counsellor at Uniting VIC as well as participates in the Utilities Working Group for FCA.

What does a Financial Counsellor do?

Financial counselling is a free service run by not-for-profits, offering information, options and support in regard to debts.

One of the key benefits of a financial counsellor is they can provide information on benefits, concessions and entitlements including “concessions regarding energy, which is particularly important these days because a lot of people don’t know what they’re entitled to.”

A lot of financial counsellors are also trained in counselling and can offer emotional support.

“We provide information so customers can make informed choices and decisions and have ownership of their own situation. We don’t want to be telling them what they have to do, we want to give them the information so they can make decisions for themselves. It’s really important that they have control of their situation.”

To learn more, watch the short video where Andrea Osborne explains the wide range of services a financial counsellor can provide.

What are customers experiencing when it comes to energy and water costs?

Taking the time to listen to what financial counsellors are learning from their casework can offer valuable insight into the financial challenges people are facing. Below, the panel explores what they’re seeing firsthand when it comes to why customers are not able to pay their energy and water bills.

The gap between energy and other life essentials

Danielle Slade, who works for the National Debt Helpline 5 days a week, explains that “the biggest thing we’ve seen is extraordinarily large debts,” where in some cases, people can barely cover their current usage let alone also contribute towards old energy bills.

Danielle continued on to provide insight into the essentials that help create a comfortable life, including:

Rent or housing
Food
Transport
Medications
Telecommunications
Power

“I say power last because [in the eyes of the customer], that’s the only bill this fortnight that I can skip if I just don’t have enough money. If I don’t pay my rent, I get evicted. I have to eat. I can’t walk my children to school if it takes us 2 hours to get there. I can’t not take medication. So, the only thing that’s left that I can skip this fortnight is power. So, a lot of people leave it to that 3 month bill and then we get a debt that’s just so unmanageable.”

The link to housing and water costs

There has also been recent casework where customers are struggling to pay their water bills.

Rose McGrath explained, “For renters, they pay the landlords directly. They don’t have a direct billing relationship with the water company or with the council. So, water arrears are very much tied up with rent arrears and because rents have increased so much, people are really struggling to pay their water and rent. As a result, partly, they are being evicted for non-payment of their water.”

Rose goes on to explain that in some cases, there is such high demand for rental subsidies and rental arrears, it takes up to 2 months for people to receive them where they can be evicted within that time.

“With water, there are no hardship provisions like there is in energy. There is no hardship framework and there’s no concessions for renters.”

What can the energy sector do to help with the cost-of-living crunch?

When it comes to supporting customers with their energy and water bills, the panel provided insight into what’s currently working and what could be improved to help customers regain control of their financial situation.

Continue educating customers on ways to reduce their power bills, where Andrea mentions that once customers are given this information, “12-24 months down the track, we had observed their energy bills and they dropped hundreds [of dollars]. Just a bit of information and they were able to change their ways and reduce their bills.”
Continue energy audits for vulnerable customers as well as further to current government initiatives, there could be potential to replace faulty appliances causing higher energy bills.
More reference to the National Debt Helpline to ensure customers know where to go for financial help (for example, as shown in the Keep the money. It’s yours. National concessions campaign).
Matched payments, where possible, as Danielle explained that customers start to think “the energy provider is going to help me pay off my debt?” which helps to shift the mentality to ‘we’re in this together’ (acknowledging this may not be the case for all retailers).
Potential to introduce debt waivers, including an automatic debt waiver when there’s family violence.

Want to watch the full recording of ‘Stories from the frontline of the cost-of-living crunch’ session?

Listen to the full session to gain further insight into what financial counsellors are seeing in their casework and the impacts the cost-of-living crisis is having on their energy and water bills.

About this event

This event was part of the Know Your Customers + Communities – Community of Practice dedicated to building capability around robust and fit-for-purpose customer, community, and stakeholder engagement, and building organisational cultures that value the customer voice in decision making.

Know Your Customers + Communities is a collaboration with between the Energy Charter and Water Services Association of Australia under our Collaboration Memo of Understanding (MoU).

To become a regular member of this Community of Practice, please contact Bec Jolly, Director Collaboration  bec.jolly@theenergycharter.com.au.

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The story of energy – An artwork is by Ngarrindjeri artist, Jordan Lovegrove

More about the art and the artist, Jordan Lovegrove…

Jordan is a Ngarrindjeri visual storyteller and artist known for his captivating contemporary and abstract art. You can see more of his work here.

With 12 years of experience, Jordan has developed a vibrant and dynamic style, drawing inspiration from his Ngarrindjeri heritage, his artwork showcases cultural symbolism and a unique artistic vision.

Alongside his art, Jordan is also skilled in graphic design, specializing in creating visually appealing reports, Reconciliation Action plans, logos & branding. He seamlessly blends traditional and modern techniques to produce visually stunning and contemporary designs.

The artwork by Jordan produced for the Energy Charter tells the story of energy, how it connects all of Australia and the Energy Charter’s commitment to create a better energy future for all Australians.

The centrepiece of the artwork represents the Energy Charter’s five core principles dedicated to better outcomes for customers and their communities.

The three coloured sections and symbols represent the transition to a cleaner future; blue is hydro, orange is solar, and green is wind.

The meeting places around the outside and pathways that connects them represents like-minded energy organisations across Australia collaborating and connecting people together for the betterment of communities.

These communities are represented by the pattern on the inside of the artwork.

Jordan was brought to us by Ochre Dawn, a 100% Australian Aboriginal owned and Supply Nation Certified, company. Company founder and proud Peramangk and Ngarrindjeri woman, Rebecca Wessels, explains…

“As Aboriginal people, we are natural storytellers – it’s part of our makeup. As an Aboriginal-owned branding and marketing company, storytelling is our business”.

Ochre Dawn helps others to tell their story in visually captivating ways. They do this by being the hands that write, that paint, that create; being the minds that ideate, being the voices that declare true identities and unleash a truly Australian existence.

For more information visit their website www.ochredawn.com.au.

October 2023 News Update

In this October 2023 News Update, we’re excited to announce the Energy Charter Signatory 2022-23 Disclosures* are now live on our website! These Disclosures are part of our annual Accountability Process: a critical transparency and accountability process to build trust with customers and communities.

CEO Council Chair

Community of Practice – Financial and mental wellbeing

A dive into financial and mental wellbeing with Beyond Blue

In our August Know Your Customers + Communities – Community of Practice, we heard from Beyond Blue and how their Services Guide for Financial and Mental wellbeing can be used by energy & water customer teams to better support customers experiencing financial and mental health stress.

Beyond Blue is an Australian, not-for-profit organisation, whose vision is to help all people in Australia achieve their best possible mental health. Representing them was Irene Verins, their Wellness and Prevention Lead. She oversees development of research relating to Financial and Mental Wellbeing, and the design of tools and resources to support the community. Irene also oversees the Parenting and Mental Health portfolio.

Irene explained the purpose of the session was two-fold:

to introduce Beyond Blue’s research, tools and resources and explore how they might be useful to your sector
to build understanding between the energy, water and mental health services sectors.

What is financial and mental wellbeing and what does the research tell us about it?

Financial wellbeing is being able to meet current and ongoing expenses and commitments, being financially comfortable to be able to make choices to allow one to enjoy life, feeling secure about the financial future and having resilience to cope with financial adversity.

While financial challenges refers to any financial circumstances, thoughts and feelings that may negatively impact financial wellbeing (for example financial hardship, debt, unemployment, loss of income, low income)

In turn, mental wellbeing reflects a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community.

While mental health challenges is an umbrella term that covers diagnosed mental health conditions, as well as any other mental health issues that may negatively impact mental health but may not meet the criteria for a diagnosed illness.

Beyond Blue’s recent Money and Mental Health Report found people experiencing financial challenges were at least twice as likely to experience mental health challenges and vice versa. We found that those people most affected by financial and mental challenges were:

young people,
women,
First Nations, and
small business owners.

What are factors that influence financial and mental wellbeing?

Relationships – People who felt they had no one to lean on are more likely to experience financial and mental health challenges. And withdrawal from community and social interactions is a common response to financial challenges.
Life transitions – Young adults transition from school to university or their first-time job, transitioning out of work and into retirement. If support is not available, transitions can quickly become risky moments.
Cultural narratives about success – often lead to expectations on what being financially stable symbolises. The environment you live in, or the expectations surrounding your circumstance may create a culture that contributes to self-blame or feeling ashamed. Job and income loss may lead to shame that you are not meeting expectations of managing your financial position and your family responsibilities. This was prominent for small business owners.
Stigma – plays a significant role in both mental and financial health and inhibits help-seeking. So often we hear that people feel enormous shame when they talk about financial difficulties, and this can deter them from seeking help when they need it most.
Adverse life events – are often outside your control and can be coupled with trauma. These may include divorce, separation, becoming widowed, job loss and family violence. These situations can lead to unexpected and rapid changes in income and financial stability.

This is important because a recent unpublished report has found that 37% of Australians reported that cost of living was the issues having the greatest negative impact on their mental health.

How can the Services Guide for Financial and Mental wellbeing help?

Developed in partnership with Financial Counselling Australia, this Guide provides practical advice on how services from both energy + water sectors, can provide greater support to customers.

We are not asking the energy and water sectors to become mental health counsellors or financial councillors. The aim of this Guide is to build the awareness and capability of energy + water sectors to work with mental health services, showing how they can both work more closely together. This flow on effect of bringing sectors together will drive action on support and referral options.

The Guide will help you:

Depict signs & behaviors of people in financial or mental hardship
Apply models and approaches in assessing hardship
Drive action on support and referral options.

A key tool in the Guide that you can have on your desk as a reference when you are meeting with clients is this continuum. It will help you evaluate a person’s financial and mental wellbeing. It starts with ‘In crisis’ and moves through stages until we get to ‘Thriving’.

Financial and mental wellbeing journeys are non-linear, meaning they can shift and change over time. That’s why managing financial and mental wellbeing together is important at all stages of the continuum. Whichever stage is identified by a customer along the continuum, there are broad actions and support you can provide in subsequent pages of the services guide.

Helpful resources

Watch the ‘Support customers with financial & mental wellbeing’ session

If you would like to watch the Know Your Customers + Communities – Financial and mental wellbeing session that explored inclusion, you can watch the recorded session here.

About this event

This event was part of the Know Your Customers + Communities Community of Practice dedicated to building capability around robust and fit-for-purpose customer, community, and stakeholder engagement, and building organisational cultures that value the customer voice in decision making.

Know Your Customers + Communities is a collaboration with between the Energy Charter and Water Services Association of Australia under our Collaboration Memo of Understanding (MoU).

To become a regular member of this Community of Practice, please contact Bec Jolly, Director Collaboration at bec.jolly@theenergycharter.com.au.

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September 2023 News Update

In the September 2023 News Update, CEO Council Chair, Guy Chalkley states the importance of the accountability and transparency mechanism for better outcomes for consumers and communities. At the end of this month, Full Energy Charter Signatories will publicly share their annual Disclosures on how they have met their commitments to the five Energy Charter customer principles and opportunities for continuous improvement.

We also provide an update to the #BetterTogether Life Support initiative and critical findings in the 2022 Australian Energy Foundation Report as well as the four key benefits of the initiative.

Our latest First Nations Engagement Community of Practice session is also available to watch.

CEO Council Chair

August 2023 News Update

In the August 2023 News Update, CEO Council Chair, Guy Chalkley welcomes AusNet Services as a Full Signatory and Marinus Link as a #BetterTogether Collaborator. The Knock to Stay Connected Customer Code also held its first Customer Code Council (CCC) meeting in July where they appointed the Independent Chair and Code Administrator.

We also provide an update to the National Concessions Campaign ‘Keep the money. It’s yours’ and how it’s reaching those who are missing out on energy concessions, as well as how to get involved.

CEO Council Chair

Resilience Community of Practice – Responding to trauma

An essential connection to services and assistance

The Energy Charter’s Disaster Response Playbook recognises that following a disaster event, utility service providers are often a first point of contact for people as they provide an essential service for recovery.

They are an important part of the disaster response and recovery ecosystem as a ‘connector’ to other services and assistance. However, sometimes staff:

Lack the training and feel unprepared to support customers and peers who have experienced trauma, which can have negative impacts for mental health and wellbeing of both parties.
Are unclear on what the scope of their role is when responding to a disaster (i.e., when to refer to another service) which leaves them trying to ‘do it all’.
Experience personal trauma as a result the disaster, while also playing professional role in disaster response and recovery activities.

In our July Resilience Community of Practice, Alexandra Howard, Director, Disasters and Public Health Emergencies at Phoenix Australia offered strategies to help staff better recognise and respond to trauma in disaster impacted communities.

Here’s our key takeaways from Alex’s session

Disaster impacts are multi-faceted with impacts across multiple areas.

Within the essential services sector, we can often be focused on responding to build environment and economic/financial impacts. However, whether we know it or not, most of us in the disaster eco-system, also have a role in human phyco-social impacts

Image: “Multi-faceted impacts of disaster”, Pheonix Australia presentation

Acknowledging this, it can be helpful to apply a ‘trauma lens’ to all of the disaster preparedness, response, and recovery activities we undertake.

This is not about making everyone a counsellor or psychologist, rather the purpose is to help us to set boundaries and act within our skill set, taking a ‘no harm’ approach.

There are four common reactions to trauma and each can play out in several ways:

Changes in mental or cognitive capacity
Physiological or bodily changes
Changes in behaviour
Emotional changes.

All of these reactions are linked to our “Fight, Flight and Freeze response (our neurobiological responses to threat)

Image: “Common Responses”, Pheonix Australia presentation

It’s likely that all people will experience these responses, however, for most these will subside over time. However, sometimes we can get stuck in a ‘Fight, Flight and Freeze’ heightened awareness loop, constantly scanning for danger and being on high alert.

One of the things that puts people at greater risk of this over the long term, is exposure to secondary stressors.

Research has shown that even 10 years after the 2009 bushfires, impacted communities experienced higher rates of mental health disorders, difficulties with schooling and other challenges.

So, what can we do to reduce secondary stressors and support better long-term outcomes for disaster impacted communities?

Here’s a few quick tips:

Reduced memory and concentration, as well as difficulty planning and making decisions are common trauma responses. It’s important to consider an individual’s capacity to engage with complex processes immediately after disaster.

Feeling on edge and avoiding reminders of trauma are also a common trauma responses. We can help by reducing the number of times we ask customers and communities to re-tell their story. We can also avoid asking for unnecessary detail that is not essential to the task.

It’s not unusual for people to feel as if they are ‘going crazy’ and are out of control. We can help by giving people a sense of choice and the opportunity to regain a level of control over their personal situation.

Connectedness is one of the most important protective factors after disaster and energy. Essential service providers play a critical role in repairing the physical infrastructure that enables connectedness by resorting power and phone networks. They also play a key role within physical community spaces, such as emergency recovery and evacuation centres that support physical community connectedness during and immediately after a disaster event.

Key reflection points

During the session, Alex asked participants to reflect on a few simple things that could have big impacts in supporting better personal, organisational and community outcomes. Take a moment to consider…

Where’s the opportunity to create a learning loop?

It’s essential to share back to enable continuous improvement. Who else in your organisation has a “front-line” role? How can you share learnings, training options and resources with them?

How can you prepare to support your own ‘connectedness’ needs?

How can you build the networks you might rely on in a disaster now? What can you do to keep these networks present and familiar, so it feels natural and intuitive to lean on them when you need to?

Session resources

Recognising & Responding to Trauma Presentation

The Disaster Mental Health hub by Phoenix Australia

Education & Training by Phoenix Australia

Peer Support Guidelines by Phoenix Australia

About this event

This event is part of the Energy Charter’s Resilience Community of Practice dedicated to helping customers and communities better prepare, respond and recover from disaster events.

Every second month, the Energy Charter host a Community of Practice, including expert-led discussions building on the topics covered in the Energy Charter’s Disaster Response Playbook:

Communication and Education – where do communities get information, how is it delivered and who needs to know? This includes sharing learnings on successful communication and education campaigns as an essential aspect of disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
Coordination and Collaboration – what are the opportunities to better work together across the energy sector and within the broader eco-system? This includes better practice case studies on successful collaboration.
Planning and Preparedness – what is our role in building community and individual capacity to plan and prepare for a disaster? This includes opportunities to build resilience ownership and literacy within communities, so they can better respond in a disaster.
Learning loops – It’s essential to share back to enable continuous improvement. This includes sharing insights from recent disaster events and building a resilience learning library.

Learn more on the dedicated Resilience Community of Practice page here.

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Humanising the renewable energy transition

The Australian Clean Energy Summit 2023 (ACES23) brought together leaders across the renewable energy sector to discuss the state and outlook for the Australian clean energy industry, together with challenges and opportunities in realising Australia’s potential as a renewable energy superpower.

Our Executive Director, Sabiene Heindl presented at ACES23 on opportunities for social licence collaboration on 18 and 19 July in Sydney, and shares below the leadership of the Energy Charter on this very human element of the energy transition.

The state of play

Clearly the transition to clean energy is well underway. The sector is rapidly growing in terms of both household and large-scale renewable generation deployment and the necessary build of transmission and distribution network assets to support the move way from fossil fuel generation. While ambition and optimism to meet climate targets are high, social licence in communities remains a key challenge for both generation and transmission.

Social licence

Minister Bowen’s keynote address highlighted the importance of social licence. Speakers, including State Energy Ministers lamented the challenges in communities and the need for shared value. Community members Lee Kingma, Grazier from Tumut and Rosemary Hadaway, Chair of the Mudgee District Environment Group shared their insights from the ground:

Communities will wear the “product” for the long term
The benefit to the wider community is different to the local community
Local knowledge is key to decision
Regional and rural people have a strong sense of place and attachment to their land
Renewables are being imposed and people feel ignored
There are already insufficient local resources in terms of workers, accommodation, water supply and waste capacity
Community benefits should be just that, a benefit, not the provision of government services
Disturbance and vegetation loss should be minimised
The community is totally exhausted and need to be supported to engage meaningfully

They want leadership, open acknowledgement of all the costs, better communication and ethical behaviour. The bigger question was how?

Better Practice Social Licence Guidelines

The Energy Charter recently released a comprehensive Better Practice Social Licence Guideline (see below for the launch details). The Guideline was co-designed by the National Farmers Federation, Queensland Farmers Federation, NSW Farmers Federation, Victorian Farmers Federation, AgForce Queensland, Cotton Australia and Energy Charter signatories APA Group, Powerlink Queensland, TransGrid with support from Essential Energy and Jemena. The Social Licence Guideline is underpinned by the Better Practice Guide to Landholder and Community Engagement which was launched at a National Farmers Federation event in September 2021.

Every stage of the Social Licence Guideline was collaboration – from designing the landholder survey, to analysing the results and developing the Social Licence Guideline.

Our dedicated Community Outcomes Group (COG) included representation from the Ag Energy Taskforce (representing over 30 ag bodies), Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, Bundaberg Regional Irrigators Group, National Farmers’ Federation, National Irrigators Council, RE-Alliance, Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, Queensland Farmers’ Federation and Victorian Farmers Federation.
Our Industry Collaborators included Energy Charter signatories Transgrid (NSW, ACT), Powerlink Queensland (QLD), TasNetworks (TAS), AusNet Services (VIC) + ElectraNet (SA).
Our research partner into the voice of landholders was KPMG Australia.

Importantly, Energy Charter signatories have committed to reporting against how they are meeting the Priority Actions of the Guidelines through their annual Disclosure Reports in the Energy Charter Accountability Process.

Training of Land Agents

This month we were involved in training land agents together with Andrew Dyer, the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner on bringing the Social Licence Guideline to life at a practical level.

AG Energy Social Licence Roundtable

Last year at the request of the ag sector, we established the Ag Energy Social Licence Roundtable. It most recently met in Dubbo in June following the Ag Renewables Conference to discuss challenges and opportunities for collaboration through the renewable energy transition.

Evaluating Transmission Undergrounding

Finally, we have recently kicked off a #BetterTogether initiative on evaluating transmission undergrounding which builds on our Social Licence Guideline. It aims to improve the experience of host landholders and communities by collaborating with community representatives and stakeholders to:

Validate community concerns, considerations and expectations for how the viability of underground compared to overhead transmission designs should be evaluated by transmission businesses
Co-develop a shared knowledge and evidence-base, including Better Practice approaches to assessing and evaluating social costs and mitigating impacts
Identify and address public information and evidence gaps, sources of (dis)information and practice (in)consistencies.

Working hand in hand with community, transmission businesses and other relevant stakeholders (through a Community Outcomes Group), we will collect and consider a wide variety of perspectives and evidence to bring greater transparency to how the viability of underground compared to overhead transmission designs are evaluated. This includes considering the insights gathered through the NSW Inquiry into the Feasibility of Undergrounding Transmission Infrastructure.

We’re proud to be supporting collaborative initiatives that highlight the human face of transition. There’s no doubt that social licence challenges will only be solved #bettertogether.

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Community of Practice – Engagement with Older Australians

Diversity and Inclusion Energy Charter blog

Many older people have AND are carers and may have another person who regularly acts on their behalf. Older people are more likely to struggle with smaller print, quiet audio and long wait times.

They are also more likely to be unable to live without utilities!

The Energy Charter’s Better Practice Customer Engagement Toolkit acknowledges the robust processes businesses need to understand their customers and communities. The Toolkit provides practical strategies for energy businesses on ways to incorporate feedback into their decision making.

Essentially, all energy businesses are here to serve customers and communities (whether they are residential, small & medium business, or large commercial and industrial). To deliver energy products and services in a way that meets customer and community needs and expectations, we first need to understand: what are those needs and expectations?

That’s why engaging with customers and communities is critical.

In our June Know Your Customer + Communities – Community of Practice, we heard from Elise Lloyd and Sharmilla Zaluski from the Council of the Ageing (COTA), South Australia (SA) and The Plug-In who work with Australians aged 50 and over in the design of products and services and the delivery of research.

Who are the subject matter experts?

Elyse is Acting Research Manager at the Plug-in. She is a psychological scientist and data analyst with experience in market and social research across an array of sectors. She has previously worked as a specialist in ageing research, focusing on quantitative methodologies.

Sharmilla is an Associate at The Plug-in. Sharmilla is an original member of The Plug-in start-up team and now contributes her expertise on a project basis as an advisor, co-researcher and workshop facilitator. She has previous experience working in policy, community engagement and customer service roles in local government.

Why is it important for energy businesses to engage with Older Australians?

Australia has an aging population with 34% aged over 50 in 2020 and 21% of Australians expected to be 85 or over by 2066.

Older Australians are diverse. For those over 65, 37% were born outside of Australian and 18% speak a language other than English at home. More than a third live in regional or remote areas. The aging experience for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is different from that of the non-indigenous Australians with only 16% aged over 50 (compared to 34% of non-indigenous Australians).

How do you effectively engage with Older Australians?

Have a clear purpose! Older Australians need to know what you need from them.
Be inclusive. Make sure you engage and provide opportunities for older Australians to be part of the engagement in an appropriate way (see more on this later).
Reflect the diversity of older Australians. One size does not fit all. Older Australians are multi-lingual, live in cities and regional areas, and are identified as older over 50 in First Nations communities.
Work with older Australians not for them, provide processes where they can participate in the design, delivery, and outcomes of your engagement with them.
Build relationships. It can be difficult to get communities on board if there is not an existing relationship with them. Consider how you will build trust with communities and the organisations who represent & support them.
Be respectful. Be mindful of the language that you use particularly terminology that can be invertedly ageist, for example instead of a dementia sufferer use strength-based terms such as a person with dementia OR person living with dementia OR person with a diagnosis of dementia.
Reflect, adapt and improve. Close the loop when you engage with communities to check in on what you heard and feedback how the engagement has been incorporated into the product or service.

What considerations and adaptations are important when reaching out to older Australians?

Digital access and literacy vary. Most older Australians are online (93% of 65+ age group have internet access at home) however, they still experience low digital literacy which impacts how they use digital tools. For example, many use social media (43% on FB or Instagram) but are unable to use apps. It is important to offer offline alternatives and make sure it is easy to find these alternatives. This includes options for a third-party such as a family member or carer, to assist.

Consider older Australians preferred methods of communication and engagement. Conversations are often much easier and preferred by older people. It is also important to consider if your customer contact options are potentially discriminatory. If your service has limited its methods of contact i.e., an online contact form only, this can open your service up to increased risk of regulation or action by consumer advocacy bodies.

There are current examples of consumer action against the rental and property sector (who only offered applications online), airlines (who provided age-based discounts to passengers because they required less support) and television suppliers in Australia (who supplied TVs without audio descriptive technology).

Older people are more likely to have physical health issues and therefore will have carers or family to support them. Be aware that another person may act on their behalf, consider if your processes accommodate the carer. Consider how your service uses small print, quiet audio and if customers experience long wait times, these barriers will impact the service you can provide to older people.

Helpful resources

Watch the ‘Engagement with Older Australians’ session

If you would like to watch the Know Your Customers + Communities – Engagement with Older Australians session that looked at how to work with Australians aged 50 and over in the design of products and services and the delivery of research, you can watch the recorded session here.

About this event

This event was part of the ‘Know Your Customers + Communities’ Community of Practice dedicated to building capability around robust and fit-for-purpose customer, community, and stakeholder engagement, and building organisational cultures that value the customer voice in decision making.

Know Your Customers + Communities is a collaboration with between the Energy Charter and Water Services Association of Australia under our Collaboration Memo of Understanding (MoU).

To become a regular member of this Community of Practice, please contact Bec Jolly, Director Collaboration  bec.jolly@theenergycharter.com.au.

#BT