Our Board of Directors met on October 22 to consider the final round of applications for our Grants Program for this year. We are delighted to announce that three exciting new projects and one ongoing grant, addressing a range of energy issues, received approval for funding.
The first of our grants will support Queensland advocates in bringing a strong consumer voice to local and national decisions on regulated retail electricity prices, especially in regional areas of the State. Expert advice will be provided by Etrog Consulting; a specialist consultancy in energy and utilities, who has worked on these issues with Queensland advocates in previous years.
Funding was also approved for Better Renting to develop of a national advocacy initiative aimed at mandating minimum energy performance standards in rental housing across NEM jurisdictions. Better Renting are a community of renters working together for stable, affordable, and liveable homes.
The Total Environment Centre is also receiving funding from our Grants Program to undertake three related projects – advocating for electricity grids using lower-cost approaches to rebuilding after extreme weather events: helping achieve lower cost access to energy storage and energy sharing; and engaging in regulatory decisions developing new grid architecture.
The Board also approved a third year of funding for ACOSS’ Equitable, Affordable, Inclusive Energy Transition project which has been doing great work with advocates and decision-makers to ensure that low-income consumers can benefit from the coming changes to the electricity system. Recently chosen as one of our Great Grants, you can read more about the project here.
This marks the last of our Grants for 2020, however our next round of applications is open now until February 25th 2021. We support projects which supply knowledge and capacity to support energy policy development that will benefit the long-term interests of consumers. Our CEO Grants enable consumer engagement and advocacy in government, regulatory, or industry processes.
Visit the grants section of our website here to learn more about our application process and some of the previous great grants that we have funded. You can also read our Grants Program Annual Report 2019-20 here.
If you have questions or need further information, email Jim Wellsmore, Associate Director Research here.