Introducing the Lived Experience Panel
#BetterTogether Collaborators
Community Energy Resilience
The importance of greater community energy resilience
Our changing climate means more frequent and extreme weather events and severe storms. This leads to more incidents that can increase the risk and duration of power outages.
Many people, including those in vulnerable circumstances, are unaware and unprepared for extended unplanned power outages, particularly during extreme weather events. There is an opportunity to help customers and communities increase their community energy resilience to cope and recover from extended power outages, including managing their health, safety, and personal & financial wellbeing.
Call out for customer + community representatives!
Do you want to be part of co-developing a black-out plan that empowers communities to effectively prepare for power outages in extreme weather and launching a national campaign to encourage Australians to complete black-out plans including support resources for diverse audiences?
To get involved and collaborate with other passionate customer + community representatives as well as Energy Charter Signatories, reach out to join our Community Outcomes Group (COG)!
What is the initiative?
This #BetterTogether Community Energy Resilience initiative aims to create greater energy resilience among communities to assist with preparing for and recovering from extended power outages. This initiative plans to address this opportunity by:
- Establishing a Lived Experience Panel to help inform and guide the initiatives outputs
- Co-developing a black-out plan that empowers customers to effectively prepare for black-outs in extreme weather
- Launching a national campaign to encourage Australians to complete black-out plans including support resources for diverse audiences
- Co-developing and establish behavioural insights enquiry project to learn more about what customers are and are not doing to prepare for black-outs and why.
Community Energy Resilience Map + established Lived Experience Panel + established COG
Co-developed black-out plan template + online, hard copy and other access points + easy-to-use process guide
Co-developed campaign assets for diverse audiences + co-developed national campaign launched across Australia
Co-developed behavioural insights enquiry project + engagement of a broad range of customers into research
Insights for this #BetterTogether initiative in creating greater community resilience in the face of extreme weather events has additionally been informed by:
- Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, 20 February 2020
- Disaster Planning and Recovery Collaborative Research Project Phase 2 Report, Thriving Communities Partnership 2021
- Planning for the Unplanned: Are you financially ready for a natural disaster? Salvation Army, Moneycare 2022
- Spotlight on natural disasters the long-term customer experiences, EWON 2023
Who is collaborating on this initiative?
Customer + Community Outcomes Group
Members will be confirmed once the stakeholder mapping is completed in August + September 2024.
Energy Industry Collaborators
AusNet (lead), Endeavour Energy (lead), and Ausgrid, Essential Energy and SA Power Networks.
Community of Practice – Resilience (completed)
This #BetterTogether initiative started as the Resilience Community of Practice which created a platform to share knowledge, learnings and better practice examples to collectively build professional skills and organisational capability to support individual customers and communities to better plan for, and respond to, disaster events.
The Community of Practice Resilience Resource Library can still be accessed, which includes session recordings and additional resources.
Want to learn more about this #BetterTogether initiative?
If you would like to learn more about the #BetterTogether Community Energy Resilience initiative, or join the Community Outcomes Group, please reach out to Bec Jolly, Director, Energy Equity.