Ausgrid sought customer input through a community panel to inform its submission to the Australian Energy Regulator for the next five years.
Problems and Purpose
Ausgrid has to report to the Australian Energy Regulator every five years. This time, it sought community and customer input through a community panel to inform the report. The panel was tasked with responding to the question "How should Ausgrid finalise its plans for 2024-2029 and look to the future while being fair to today's customers?" [1]
Background History and Context
The Voice of the Community Panel was the deliberative element of a broader community engagement process that Ausgrid undertook to hear from customers about energy.
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
Ausgrid initiated the panel, while MosaicLab with the support of Gauge Consulting organised and ran it.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
45 participants were recruited through random stratified sampling.
Methods and Tools Used
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
Participants were recruited from three areas on the New South Wales east coast: the Hunter, Central Coast and Metropolitan Sydney.
Meetings were held in a hybrid format and took place at the same time across the three locations. There were eight sessions in total, with the final meeting involving everyone meeting together. Meeting dates ran between 22 February to 4 June 2022.
The first session was an online meet-and-greet on a Tuesday evening. This was also an opportunity to introduce what participants will be doing over the next seven meetings.
The first official meeting was in-person with participants from all locations joining together. It ran all day on a Sunday and involved expert presentations and concluded with requests for additional speakers at the next meeting.
The second meeting was held online and broken into each of the regions. This second meeting was held on different days for each of the regions. Participants heard from requested speakers and local council representatives.
The third meeting was also held online and separately in each of the regions. It involved deliberations about how the issues apply to the regions and how that might influence the proposed the recommendations to Ausgrid.
The fourth meeting was in-person with everyone together and used as a time to share insights and begin drafting recommendations.
The fifth meeting was also in-person and together and involved reviewing a response from Ausgrid to the panel's draft recommendations and other key stakeholders. The panel then reworked the recommendations based on the reviews.
The sixth meeting was online and in regional groups again to check the reviews and draft recommendations were appropriate at a regional level.
The seventh and final meeting was in-person with everyone together. It involved reviewing Ausgrid's response to the latest draft recommendations before providing the final report to the Ausgrid Chairman and CEO. [2]
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
Analysis and Lessons Learned
See Also
References
[1] MosaicLab (n.d.) Latest Projects. Ausgrid Voice of Community Panel. Accessed at: https://www.mosaiclab.com.au/latest-projects
[2] bd infrastructure (n.d.) Ausgrid Regulatory Reset - 2024-2029. Customer and stakeholder engagement report. Accessed at: https://cdn.ausgrid.com.au/-/media/Documents/Regulation/Reg-Sub/2022/Customer-and-Stakeholder-engagement-report.pdf?rev=8468f11c569e461a9e0b7fb12db39c6f