The Energy Charter News Update March 2025

In our March 2025 newsletter, you’ll find details of our new CEO Executive Council, exciting campaign launches and more:

  • Introducing the new Lived Experience Panel for the Developer Rating Scheme, and our chair Charlie Prell.
  • The big, bold ideas we’re working on in 2025 to put customers and communities at the heart of the energy sector.
  • Our National Landholder + Community Engagement Training, which kicks off this week.
  • The latest episode of the emPOWER podcast, looking at what fuels community anger about energy development.
  • Your invitation to join our Social Licence Community of Practice, looking at the human side of the energy transition.
  • The latest update on our Community Resilience campaign, helping people get prepared for power outages.
Read our March 2025 news update

Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide

Following a series of environment and energy cross-sector workshops in Queensland hosted by RE-Alliance, the Energy Charter and Powerlink Queensland, we are thrilled to announce the launch of the Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide on 27 February 2024!

Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity

What is the Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity Collaboration Guide?

With the acceleration of climate change as well as ecosystem decline, there’s a present challenge for making the switch to renewable energy. With a need to build new infrastructure to replace fossil fuels, there also needs to be improvement to and protection of protect our natural environment by reducing the impacts of new development wherever possible.

This Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide showcases several environmental interventions at every stage of renewable energy project development, from energy system design to end-of-life. It outlines some of what is possible through case studies and identifies opportunities for cross-sector collaboration.

This process emerged from a series of environment and energy cross-sector workshops in Queensland hosted by RE-Alliance, the Energy Charter and Powerlink Queensland.

The Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity Collaboration Guide in-person launch

We’re proud to have partnered with RE-Alliance to launch the Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide alongside Andrew Bray, the National Director at RE-Alliance and Dave Copeman, the Director at Queensland Conservation Council, at the Energy Charter’s National Landholder Engagement Training. An event that brings local landholders, conservation and environmental groups, renewable energy developers and energy businesses together to share insights and tools for better practice.

Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide launch
Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide launch
Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide launch

Dave Copeman shared at the Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity Collaboration Guide launch,

“This Guide maps a way for environmental groups and energy businesses to work together. It’s mapping a way to draw people in and say we can’t do this if we’re not in it together … we’ve got to find solutions together.

When we’re trying to work out how to build energy infrastructure, we’ve also got to put on “nature goggles” and say “where should we build this and where shouldn’t we?”

Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity Collaboration Guide online launch + discussion

We were also excited for the online launch of the Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity Collaboration Guide on 26 March 2024. Joining the discussion was Dave Copeman, Lu Allan from RE-Alliance, Rosie King from Energy Estate, Kiara Bowles from Powerlink Queensland and our CEO, Sabiene Heindl.

In this online event, we heard more about the Opportunities for Collaboration Guide, the collaborative efforts of Queensland environmental and conservation group representatives and energy businesses as well as a more detailed conversation about the purpose and application of the Guide. Watch the recording below.

Thank you to all the collaborators!

Working Group

Non-Government Organisations

Queensland Energy Sector

Download a copy of the Better Practice Collaboration Guide to learn more, or if you’d like to learn more about the #BetterTogether initiative behind this Guide, check out more information here.

Resilience Community of Practice – Natural disasters, the long-term customer experience

Resilience CoP February 2024 - Long-term customer experience

Australia is in the midst of a summer of extreme weather events – cyclones, monsoons, flooding, bushfires. The immediate response to these events is extensive, garnering a combined reaction from the community, industry, and policy makers to find quick and effective solutions to ensure the safety of the community.

How will the experiences and needs of impacted people change in the coming months and years following these natural disasters?

In our first Resilience Community of Practice session of 2024, Helen Ford, Deputy Ombudsman at the Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW (EWON) shared learnings from their recent Spotlight On report ‘Natural disasters – the long-term customer experience‘, which looks at complaints related to NSW bushfires and floods to understand the customer experience in the medium and long term.

The NSW context

Every Local Government Area (LGA) in NSW has been included in a flood or bushfire disaster declaration at least once between July 2018 and October 2023.

Natural disasters in NSW

Immediate and short-term energy issues

The immediate response to these events is extensive, garnering a combined reaction from the community, industry, and policy makers to find quick and effective solutions to ensure the safety of the community.

While extreme weather events have an immediate and catastrophic impact, they are followed by a long tail of complicated impacts on individuals, local and surrounding communities. Reports like the Thriving Communities Partnership Disaster Planning and Recovery Project and the Energy Charter Disaster Response Playbook detail these impacts.

Helen explains, “EWON is not a first or even second responder; we are primarily a long-term responder. Safety and wellbeing are paramount in the initial response and recovery period. Immediately following a disaster, the majority of energy issues are urgent matters like safety hazards, damage, outages, and access to other essential services like telecommunications and transport.”

“We look in admiration on the work you [the energy sector] as first responders do.”

In the image below are some of the immediate and short-term energy issues post a disaster event.

Immediate and short term energy issues

Medium and long-term energy issues

As EWON are long-term responders, Helen explains that “we know trauma comes from having to repeat stories time and time again … events can continue to impact people for years and they may experience more than one event.”

“Empathy wains as time passes, so expectations about what is fair and reasonable become less clear … but months after an event, customers are still experiencing deep vulnerability.” 

In the image below are some of the medium and long-term energy customer complaint themes EWON have assisted to resolve.

Resilience Community of Practice co-host Desiree Sassanfar, Ausgrid, reflected, “It is good to hear the growing recognition of there being no defined end to recovery. When I moved into Emergency Management, I remember hearing about families who were yet to rebuild almost 10 years after the Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria. 

It is so important to highlight that everyone’s recovery journey is unique. As network providers and retailers, we need to adapt to support our customers for this undefined period, even when we can often be highly operational businesses.”

The way forward…

Energy Charter Signatories have been on the front line of emergency responses and working hard to keep up with more frequent and severe weather events. Many, including those participating in the Energy Charter’s Resilience Community of Practice, are looking for proactive ways to support community resilience and deliver a better customer experience through disaster recovery.

Helen’s industry call to actions include:

  1. Proactively develop long-term support plans

    This planning needs to be informed by an understanding that:
    • impacts continue for years after the event
    • people may experience multiple events
    • the nature and level of impact changes over time.
  1. Identify and address factors contributing to customer stress, dissatisfaction, and lack of confidence in the energy sector culminating in complaint fatigue


    Helen says, “Energy providers need to use insights from internal and external complaints to identify ways to foster better understanding of the impact of extreme weather events and avoid complaint fatigue in customers.”

    Customers go to EWON when they are experiencing ongoing and long-term billing, supply and affordability issues, often months or even years after their homes or businesses were destroyed or deemed uninhabitable.

    Helen says, “While providers often get it right, complaints are an invaluable source of insights about where things can improve.”

    “Our commitment is that EWON will continue this conversation within the energy sector, and beyond, to share the insights from our complaints and gain insights from others.

Session resources 

Natural Disasters - the long-term customer experience PowerPoint
Natural Disasters - the long-term customer experience February 2024 recording

Helen Ford
Deputy Ombudsman
Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW

About the speaker

In 2018/19 Helen Ford was appointed Deputy Ombudsman at the Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW, to provide strategic support to the Ombudsman and undertake high level stakeholder engagement.

Before joining EWON, Helen worked for over a decade at the NSW Ombudsman’s office dealing with complaints about NSW government agencies and investigating systemic issues. She gained practical policy development experience working in the NSW Maritime Division of Roads and Maritime Services to improve operational procedures for Boating Safety Officers.

About this Community

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.

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. Learn more about the Resilience Community of Practice.

Resilience Community of Practice – Bushfire Preparedness and Lessons Learnt

Preparing networks for extreme weather to keep customers and communities safe

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After three years of La Niña rains suppressed bushfire activity, this spring and summer may be the most active fire season in four years. What does it mean to prepare well, and what have we learnt from previous bushfire responses?

In the November Resilience Community of Practice, we heard from Paul Erwin, Head of Customer Service at SA Power Networks regarding the work SA Power Networks (SAPN) is doing to prepare for the season ahead, including working with critical partners like the SA Country Fire Service.

The impacts of extreme weather on communities + energy networks

When it comes to extreme weather, energy network providers need to prepare for a range of scenarios to ensure customers and communities stay safe and connected to power.

Paul explains that there are various scenarios that need to be considered, especially when the hotter months are among us. Some of these extreme weather events include:

  • Extended heatwaves with hot nights result in high levels of energy demand and equipment gets little chance to cool
  • Bushfires that can cause significant damage and outages
  • Lightning strikes impact infrastructure and cause outages
  • High winds can bring down trees and tree limbs or propel airborne debris and cause significant damage.

These impacts are common challenges faced by all energy providers. Paul goes on the explain that,

“[Networks] can be damaged by a fire, it can be damaged by smoke from a fire that can trip it off and it’s vulnerable during storms to the impact of things like trees or wind blowing debris and other impacts like lightning strikes during a storm.

So, for those of you that are network providers, this is nothing unusual to you, but it’s something that’s important that you can relate in your communications to customers about why they’re experiencing a number of outages that they may experience throughout their lifetime connected to the network.”

Preparing for extreme weather conditions, including bushfire season, is critical to ensure customers, communities and equipment all stay safe.

Proactive measures and planning for extreme weather

At SAPN, Paul explains the sophisticated approach they take to minimising risks to customers and equipment, as well as the steps in preparing for the impacts of extreme weather events including bushfires and storms.

“We have what we believe is a sophisticated approach to minimising those risks to the best that we possibly can. Understanding we’re still going to bear some of those problems; we prepare for summer and extreme weather events well and truly in advance.”

SAPN use various tools and methods, such as daily monitoring of weather, twice-weekly briefings with meteorologists, and specific response levels (Fire Danger Level, Emergency Response Level and Minimum State Demand) to manage and mitigate potential risks.

The ‘weather and network impacts monitoring workflow’ below illustrates the extensive planning, communication and response in the case of an extreme event.

Bushfire seasonal preparations

When it comes to having an electricity network that’s primarily above ground, careful consideration is essential to minimise risks of the equipment starting fires.

Paul explains that when the bushfire season does start, asset inspectors continually assess the asset and look at whether there needs to be greater attention brought to certain areas. This includes the use of drones, helicopters and ground patrols.

We also heard the additional extensive bushfire seasonal preparation that SAPN completes ahead of the season, including:

  • Rectifying any identified bushfire and supply risk defects and ensuring key network projects completed prior to summer
  • Tree trimming
  • Training operational personnel/emergency management exercises
  • Ensuring emergency spare parts in stock
  • Preparing call centre and social media messaging
  • Writing to Life Support Customers, MP’s.

Emergency disconnections during bushfire season

When conditions are deteriorating and not looking to improve, in severe cases, emergency disconnections may be required. Paul explained the degree to which SAPN go to on a fire danger day in getting ready to proactively conduct an emergency disconnection to keep communities safe.

This response follows a Disconnection Procedure Flowchart (pictured below), where Paul explained the steps that are followed, including:

  • Continually assessing and monitoring reports, network activity, damage reports, weather reports and more
  • If a situation is verified to the appropriate Fire Danger Level which requires disconnection, a specialist group is formed called the Disconnection Order Group
  • The Disconnection Order group has various different components across the business, all the way from where Paul sits, in the customer and community space, through to network field services, logistics and more
  • They report directly to an Operations Director where they will make a recommendation after discussing with the CFS whether to disconnect and then seek authorised approval. This approval must come from SAPN’s CEO.

Keeping the community informed at every stage

SAPN engages in proactive communication with customers when forecasts indicate significant Emergency Response Level or Fire Danger Level conditions. This includes reaching out to Life Support Customers, MPs, nursing homes and other major customers, to inform them of preparations for extreme weather events.

Paul went on to explain that social media is a critical platform to spread messages during events, especially since the statewide blackout South Australia experienced in 2016. During this event, they saw an increase in Facebook followers who helped share posts and pictures. Social media continues to remain engaging with their community since.

They also utilise SMS as Paul explains “We’ve got automated systems that just immediately send out SMS messages to customers soon as we know a part of the network is off, either that we can see it remotely or that customers call us about it.”

This two-way communication with their customers is essential to see a full picture of what’s happening on the ground and let their customers that they are listening and acting to ensure they remain safe.

In major events, SAPN deliver targeted, bespoke messaging to localised groups of customers regarding restoration times.

During bushfires, communications can be quite different to usual. Paul states that, “we sort of broke that up where we twice a day we’ll go out to customers in the middle of the day at the end of the day to say this is how far we’ve got with our reconnections and your area is coming up next in the following day and again that that gathers kudos from customers.”

Paul highlights the importance of communicating to customers and communities, stating that “We do as much as we can to make sure that we are preparing and informing the community [about] what we’re doing to prepare … and advising them on what they need to do when there is a bushfire.”

Session resources 

Bushfire Preparedness + Lessons Learnt PowerPoint
Bushfire Preparedness + Lessons Learnt November 2023 recording
About the speaker

Head of Customer Service at SA Power Networks, Paul Erwin has three decades of experience in the energy sector and wealth of knowledge on driving better customer outcomes in the energy sector.

He’s a seasoned member of SAPNs emergency response team, having been involved in numerous incident responses, including for bushfires, floods events and severe storms. Paul is passionate about better protections for customers in vulnerable circumstances and ensuring businesses put their efforts toward the actions that matter most to customers.

In his time at SAPN, Paul has managed teams across customer, community and retailer relations. He also has an M.B.A and Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from the University of South Australia, and is Graduate of the University of Adelaide’s Professional Management program.

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. Learn more about the Resilience Community of Practice.

Resilience Community of Practice – Preparedness, Disruptions and Impact

Community of Practice – Resilience

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Compelling narratives to showcase the power of resilience in action

In September, the Resilience Community of Practice explored how forward-thinking organisations:

  • Proactively prepare for disruptive events
  • The challenges of around real disruptions and how they can be overcome
  • The critical role that resilience and preparedness play in mitigating customer impacts.

Speaker Fiona Dunk, Group Manager, Business Resilience for Signatory Jemena unravelled the compelling narratives to showcase the power of resilience in action.

As a starting point, Fiona pointed to the preparedness as the foundation of proactive Resilience noting that,

“In the face of uncertainty, preparedness is the compass that guides us through the storm.”

She highlighted that preparing well is the ability to recognise precedence, have strong situational awareness and foresight,

“We can’t rely on the playbook from last year – we need to prepare for this year.”

Preparedness is also about never loosing site of the opportunity to capture and implement lessons learnt. Every disruptive event offers an opportunity to learn and improve.

Resilience blog Oct 2023 - Learn from experience

Regardless of the type of disruption, Fiona encourages a focus on community-centred resilience to achieve better outcomes for those impacted.

In simple terms, this means:

  • Providing empathetic and proactive customer service during disruptions to maintain trust
  • Rallying communities to support each other to minimise hardship during disruptions
  • Prioritise the needs of vulnerable customers during disruptions through outreach and assistance.

Part of this respecting and empowering your connections,

“Communities have vast resources and capacity to empower their people and respond to emergencies when you enable collective action. Provide the space and respect local partners.”

Key takeaways

  • Preparedness is the foundation
  • Disruptions are inevitable
  • Community-centric focus matters
  • Learn lessons for the future
  • We are always, #BetterTogether.

Participant reflections

Following the presentation participants reflected on the below question and encouraged others to do the same with colleagues:

  • Where are you getting your foresight for this year’s risks and what are you putting in place to share and prepare?
  • Supporting responder mental health through disaster is essential, how are you preparing to manage fatigue in teams, especially considering cumulative and compounding events are becoming more frequent?
  • Coming into a potentially very difficult year weather-wise, how are you working with your Board and Leadership to drive Resilience outcomes now. What do you have in place to track customer and community outcomes?
  • What do your simulations/preparedness events look like and how can you bring in other parties to ensure preparedness at a collaborative level?
  • In the context of resilience, what do you do in practice to create psychologically safe spaces for teams and communities?
  • How do you hear from communities on what they need from you? How are you brining these voices into your decision making now and in-disaster? 

Session resources 

Preparedness, Disruptions and Impacts PowerPoint
Preparedness, Disruptions and Impacts session recording
About our speaker

Fiona Dunk has more than 30 years of experience in Crisis & Emergency Management, Security and Resilience most recently as the Group Manager, Business Resilience for Jemena.

Fiona holds a Masters Degree in Business Technology from the University of New South Wales and has held roles in the Royal Australian Navy, Marine Safety Management, Port Emergency & Security Management, Crisis/Emergency management Consultancy and Project Management. 

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Resilience Community of Practice – Responding to trauma

Resilience Community of Practice – Responding to trauma

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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.

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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:

  1. Changes in mental or cognitive capacity
  2. Physiological or bodily changes
  3. Changes in behaviour
  4. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

First Nations Engagement Community of Practice: Sherrie Anderson learn by coming with me

Our First Nations Enagement Community of Practice was launched by Transgrid’s Yura Ngura Indigenous Advisory Team. The team drive reconciliation through inclusive and respectful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the communities Transgrid operates in. 

Sherrie Anderson, a proud Biripi/ Worimi woman and Manager of the Yura Ngura Indigenous Advisory Team, spoke about the journey and growth of her organisation in First Nations Engagement.

As Sherrie explains, “Think transformational, not transactional when it comes to First Nations Engagement”.

So how do you ensure your engagement with First Nations communities is transformational?

It is important to acknowledge that engagement with First Nations people is completely different from other forms of customer and community engagement.

“Organisations need to build trust and relationships before they earn the right for conversations” Sherrie advises.

“There is no rule book or cookie cutter approach. Every community and every engagement is different.”

The values of your organisation are crucial, not only for successful engagement but also in how it impacts the wellbeing of Aboriginal employees. This includes engagement for the purpose of developing a relationship which will make the difference for your Aboriginal employees feeling culturally safe and not taking on an excessive cultural load.

Sharing economic benefits with the community means looking beyond the ‘tick a box’ exercise, to see what else can be done to bring the community into the project. Sherrie gave an example of bringing members of the community into the project team to be Aboriginal mentors.

Insights for Better Practice First Nations engagement

Lessons shared…

  • Shift your mindset to move away from ‘solutions listening’ (listening to find a solution). Instead listen to understand and build a relationship.
  • Abide by the Principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent, for more information check out this resource from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies AIATSIS here.
  • Set realistic expectations within your organisation particularly around funding and timelines. This also includes discussions around what success looks like both for your organisation and Aboriginal community or Traditional Owners. Be sure to set and monitor these measures.
  • Celebrate the wins. Sherrie used a ‘win notebook’ to jot down all the little successes. Looking back at these not only restores morale of the team but is also a way to reflect with community on what has been achieved together.
  • Non-Aboriginal employees have a role to play. Mentoring and guidance provided by Aboriginal employees, helps to remove barriers, and advocates for the values and protection of Aboriginal culture and communities. This is crucial to the success of First Nations engagement along with employee wellbeing.

Session resources 

Have a look at Transgrid’s Yura Ngura Indigenous Advisory Team and their journey towards reconciliation through inclusive and respectful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Download the presentation

Learning to develop each individual relationship with First Nations communities means understanding that all experiences are different. As Sherrie explained, as ‘a saltwater woman’ heading into ‘muddy waters’, she was new person to that community and had to earn their trust.   

Access the session recording

About this Community of Practice

The First Nations Engagement Community of Practice is led by First Nations thought leaders across the energy and water sectors. It is an initiative that works to improve engagement practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customers and communities in collaboration with the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA)

Every second month, the Energy Charter together with WSAA host the community of practice, learning from First Nations-led discussions that builds on the three stages of the Better Practice First Nations Community Engagement Toolkit.

  1. The Foundations stage prioritises cultural training and awareness as the first step of the better practice journey.
  2. The Building Blocks stage develops practice recognising that engagement with First Nations communities is different to other engagement.
  3. The Ongoing Steps stage helps organisations move away from opportunistic engagement towards long-term trusting relationships.

Learn more on our dedicated First Nations Better Practice Community Engagement page here.

Resilience Community of Practice – Using new tech to improve customer outcomes

Community of Practice – Resilience

In the Energy Charter’s first-ever Resilience Community of Practice, we heard from Endeavour Energy on how they collaborated with others and used new-tech to deliver better outcomes for flood-affected communities. 

In 2022, significant rainfall caused flooding in parts of regional and rural NSW, damaging the electricity network and causing wide-spread power outages.

Endeavour Energy’s digital twin platform processed large amounts of data quickly to enable better, faster and more accurate engineering decisions. It works by using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data captured from helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and vehicles and links it with network data to generate an engineering-grade digital 3D network model.

During the floods, Endeavour Energy used this new technology to simulate the impact of major flooding in the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers. 

Rather than wait for visual inspections after the floodwaters receded, the digital twin modeled flood impacts to eliminate 300 hours of inspection time and enable a targeted response to the customers that needed assistance the most.

Endeavour Energy is the first electricity network in Australia to deploy an engineering grade digital twin to combat the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.

Better communication and customer experience 

  • The modelling provided by the digital twin enabled the business to know where customers were likely to be impacted by flooding ahead of time, so targeted communication could promote safety and preparedness.
  • Social media was strategically focused to ensure widespread communication across impacted communities. The community responded, appreciating real-time news and two-way engagement
  • Digital communication was supported by teams on the ground, including community liaison officers at dedicated storm centers. With the help of the modelling data, these teams were able to provide real-time and accurate communication, including on road closures and likely restoration times
  • Informed on-ground teams and real-time information on digital channels enabled a community network to share reliable information with each other. Those that could access digital resources helped by printing and sharing information with others. 

Session resources 

Explore Endevour Energy’s response to the 2022 floods in NSW, including how they used digital-twin technology to reduce inspection time, improve safety, support real-time communication, and target their response to the customers that needed assistance the most.

Download the presentation

Improving the customer experience in the face of climate change impacts using digital twins also extends to managing bushfire impacts.

Energy Charter Signatories, Collaborators and Supporters can access the full session recording via The Source to learn more. 

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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 Resileince Community of Practice page here.