This message first appeared in our December 2024 newsletter. To stay up to date with the latest news and research on energy issues that impact consumers, sign up to receive our monthly newsletter today.
As we head into the end of the year, we find ourselves once again deep in energy politics. This isn’t surprising, really, as Australians seem to have grown accustomed to this over the last decade or two – tiring as it is. That said, I wonder if there might be another approach it.
The arguments seem, for the most part, to be about how the electrons and molecules are sourced; in other words, what we get energy from, along with all the associated engineering and economics. Without diminishing the significance of this question, it is rather distant from most of our lives and experience. Conversely, people seem far more likely to rally around a discussion about how energy can best be used, and how costs can best be avoided.
In industry speak, the distinction here is between the supply side and the demand side. Pretty clearly, most people want much more attention given to the latter than they currently see.
Pleasingly, governments across the country are listening to consumers and are turning their minds more emphatically to this opportunity – but in my view it remains very much the distant cousin of the supply side conversations we hear every day.
In this context, I’m reminded of some research we undertook this time last year which showed conclusively that consumers do not feel they are getting the support they need. In a survey of nearly 3000 domestic and small business consumers, 59% of households and 69% of businesses told us they couldn’t remember having seen, heard or read anything in the previous year that would help them reduce their bills or consumption.
Every electron or molecule that doesn’t get wasted on inefficient homes and appliances or used at the most expensive time of the day, saves a consumer money. Just as important, is energy that doesn’t need to be produced or can be better used elsewhere, thus reducing cost all the way back up the chain – including on the supply side. I know that this is an utterly obvious point to make, but it is not something discussed nearly often enough with the Australian people.
This came very strongly to mind for me last week when I spoke with a neighbour who was just put on a time-of-use tariff. She told me that she had shifted as much of her consumption as she possibly could to 6pm every day to avoid peak time. I gently suggested to her that 6pm was the peak time and that, as a retiree, she might find it cheaper to turn on the dishwasher and washing machine at lunchtime, given she was home most days. I then tried to explain that in recent years peak and off-peak times had been reversed, more or less, due to household solar, etc. She looked me straight in the eye and said, a bit indignantly, “well, precisely how am I supposed to know that?”.
A very good question, it seems to me. And one that all Australians would welcome having answered.
Brendan French
Chief Executive Officer
