We have just wrapped our 2020 Annual General Meeting and I would like to share with you our 2019-2020 Annual Report and supplementary Grants Program Report which outlines the work undertaken by our team throughout the financial year.

At a challenging time for households and small businesses facing the effects of COVID-19 and the bushfires, and in the context of affordability challenges in an accelerating energy transition, it is critical we are engaging with our stakeholders to articulate a clear vision and priorities. Therefore, I would also like to share with you our Business Plan for 2020-2021. 

If I were to sum up how we intend to contribute to changing outcomes for consumers in energy markets in the coming year it would be using our unique points of leverage. In particular, framing the complex and interrelated challenges in transitioning the energy system from a consumer perspective and finding opportunities to work with others to design and implement scalable solutions that have impact.

In the 2019-20 Annual Report, and the 2020-21 Business Plan we have categorised our policy and advocacy work around four key themes:

1.    Lowering energy bills.
2.    Enabling consumer agency. 
3.    Building trust and confidence.
4.    An energy system transition led by consumer choices and values.    

On the research front we will continue our regular biannual projects, the Energy Consumer Sentiment Survey and the SME Retail Tariff Tracker and will be supplementing this with a Consumer Panel from various regions in Australia to help us understand how communities are impacted by disruption. We are also partners in the research being undertaken by the Digital Energy Futures project, led by Monash University.

If there are questions you have about our work or information you wish to share with us, feel free to email us and a member of our leadership team will get back to you.

Kind regards,
Lynne Gallagher

CEO (Interim) Energy Consumers Australia