Veronika Nemes
Director
MarketWise
08:50
Opening remarks from Chair
Tracking the transformation of how energy is produced, sold and used
09:00
Examining the transformation of the retail landscape
- Analysing how the increase in renewables running through the grid is impacting energy retailing (and is this increase in the offset by STCs?)
- Examining how technology is changing the way energy is sold
- Selling energy to consumers who are increasingly divided in levels of sophistication and ability to participate
- Consequences of the cost of living crisis
Tim Nelson
EGM, Energy Markets
Iberdrola Australia
09:30
Analysing the impact of residential electrification: helping customers with changing usage
- Are consumers using more electricity due to electrification (eg electric cars and the movement away from gas appliances) or less due to solar, heat pumps, batteries etc?
- Examining ongoing trends in overall consumption and what a widening gap between engaged pro-sumers and disenfranchised/vulnerable consumers will mean
- Using Consumer Data Right (CDR) data sharing to create a platform where consumers can compare costs for different electrification technologies
Julie Hirsch
Entrepreneur in Residence, Decarbonisation
AGL
Analysing the ‘big shift’ in retailing energy as a product to energy as a service
10:00
Exploring products and services where consumers do not have to purchase hardware upfront
- Decluttering the prosumer pathway - overcoming information overload, a lack of trust in energy suppliers, data safety concerns, changing policies and the speed of perceived tech obsolescence
- Evaluating emerging business models and how well they work for various stakeholders (consumer, the grid, retailers)
- Analysing the likely future development of this class of energy service
Jess Padman
Director of Energy Products
National Renewable Network
10:30
Morning tea
11:00
Unlocking the full value of distributed energy resources via VPPs
- Growth of distributed energy resources creates opportunities that benefit households as well as the grid
- Aligning customer incentives with grid services operations is key to successful VPP programs
- Examination of Tesla’s site-level optimisation platform that also supports VPP programs to scale
Brett Murphy
Relationship Manager, Energy, South Australia
Tesla
Consumer concerns and pain points (apart from price!)
11:20
What big customers want - from the perspective of a retailer who’s also a large energy consumer
- Real difference versus window dressing on climate claims
- Delivering large customers benefit from the vast data they produce, rather than being overwhelmed by it
- The economics of fixing processes that typically work well, but are a nightmare for atypical customers
James Gerraty
Head Telstra Energy
Telstra
11:50
Ensuring the national rollout of smart meters heeds the lessons of the Victorian experience
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has a draft rule to accelerate the national rollout of smart meters by 2030.
- Bringing the customer on the journey of the smart meter
- Managing site defects (including turning off supply due to unsafe meter panels) especially in relation to vulnerable customers and tenanted sites
- Equipping consumers with unfettered access to their energy data in a format that makes sense to them
- Examining future flashpoints, including remote disconnections
Sonja Lekovic
General Manager Compliance
AusNet
12:20
Lunch
13:20
Transforming energy equity and customer experience with solar innovations
- Contemporary insights on customer expectations of retailers
- Solar smoothing support for commercial and government customers
- Leveraging solar generation investment to promote energy equity
- Community solar farms for increased access to renewable energy
- Increasing customer energy resources through Distributed Energy Resources Management Systems
Evette Smeathers
EGM Customer & Community
Horizon Power
Dealing with a consumer base under economic pressure
13:50
Reviewing payment difficulty protections in the AER’s National Energy Customer Framework (NECF)
- Determining whether change is needed to ensure that consumers experiencing payment difficulty are proactively identified, engaged early and supported appropriately
- Exploring the effectiveness of current protections and gaps, failures and unintended consequences of the current framework
- Measuring effectiveness of other potential approaches, drawing on learnings from other frameworks (such as the Victorian payment difficulty framework).
- Considering the consumer energy debt threshold for disconnection and opportunities to improve engagement so that disconnection is truly a last resort
- Analysing what restricts retailers from open conversation with regulators and how can openness and honesty be encouraged?
- Gaining insights from retailers for collections treatment, language used and sense testing ideas
Jarrod Ball
Board Member
Australian Energy Regulator (AER)
14:20
Approaching customer debt differently
- Overcoming the challenges of traditional debt prediction and treatment methods
- Proactively engaging vulnerable customers early enough to offer support
- Getting in early with AI and Behavioural Science to change customer payment behaviour
Libby Dale
Co-Founder
SmartMeasures
14:40
PANEL DISCUSSION: Taking a customer-led approach to help customers avoid energy disconnections
- Ensuring distressed or non-paying clients are informed about available support before the disconnection process begins
- Keep energy customers connected through cooperative initiatives like the Knock to Stay Connected scheme
- Learnings and recommendations for engaging with vulnerable customers
- Thinking beyond the customer to the community to ensure all consumers are benefiting
- Connecting distressed consumers with appropriate resources (National Energy Concessions Awareness Campaign)
- Moving from competition to collaboration for customers facing vulnerability
Moderator:
Bec Jolly
Director of Collaboration
Energy Charter
Panellists:
Evette Smeathers
EGM Customer & Community
Horizon Power
Lisa Post
Head of Customer Service
TasNetworks
Lesley Walker
Executive General Manager, Customer
Synergy
15:20
Afternoon tea
Rethinking the rule book – policy regulation and tariff reform
15:50
Ensuring residential energy tariffs are fair, transparent and comparable by consumers, so they can make educated decisions about what to sign up for
- How do bill shock and accusations of ‘sneaky tactics’ undermine the case for tariff reform?
- Why do demand tariffs in particular come as a nasty surprise for customers more used to flat or time of use tariffs
- How do we ensure consumer demand response programs are not "all stick, no carrot"?
- What is the link between the shift to more complex pricing and the mass rollout of smart electricity meters?
- What are guidelines for avoiding overtly opaque structures that consumers struggle to understand and apply?
Ron Ben-David
Professorial Fellow
Monash University
16:20
PANEL DISCUSSION: Does the current design of the deregulated retail market result in a fairer, more competitive market?
- What are the causes and impacts of disengaged consumers?
- Why does the structure of end users’ tariffs bear little relationship to the actual cost structure of the electricity system?
- What needs to happen to enable innovation and deliver the decarbonised, resilient, and affordable electricity that consumers want? (And that energy companies say they want to deliver)
- How can we ensure that the gap between sophisticated consumers with access to technology and vulnerable consumers does not widen through the transition?
Moderator:
Ben Barnes
Interim Chief Executive & General Manager Corporate Affairs
Australian Energy Council
Panellists:
Gavin Dufty
Executive Manager Policy and Research
St Vincent de Paul Society Australia
Ron Ben-David
Professorial Fellow
Monash University
Andrew Crozier
Chief Digital Officer
Aurora Energy
Sarah Sheppard
Chief Executive Officer
Victorian Essential Services Commission
17:00
Closing remarks from Chair
17:10
Close of conference