Project summary
Australia faces a critical energy challenge: we have some of the world's least efficient homes and highest per capita emissions. While household energy upgrades and community renewable energy could reduce grid investment needs, lower household costs, improve health outcomes, enable a fairer energy transition, and cut emissions, these opportunities are not being experienced by many Australians. Households face barriers including information complexity, inadequate knowledge, and high costs. Current policy relies heavily on financial incentives, assuming households have complete information and unlimited processing capacity. Reality differs—and consumers spend only 9 minutes annually on energy decisions. This research investigates which features of these Community Public Energy Partnerships (CPEPs) could be transferred to our context and help Australian consumers access effective, trusted pathways to energy upgrades and community renewable energy—addressing the gap between policy intentions and household realities.