Dr Gill Owen was a tireless advocate for promoting consumer outcomes and an inaugural Director of the Energy Consumers Australia Board. The Gill Owen Scholarship supports an individual to travel internationally to research innovative ideas and initiatives that will be relevant to improving outcomes for consumers in the Australian energy market. The 2019 Gill Owen Scholar Mr Ash Salardini has produced this paper about maximising consumer outcomes in retail markets as part of his Scholarship honour.

The ultimate goal of the NEO is to drive better consumer outcomes, yet there is no clear or agreed upon definition for this concept. It is challenging to deliver on an unspecified outcome.

The paper recommends the NEO provide an explicit definition for consumer outcome, and market institutions/regulators develop metrics to assess the NEM’s performance in achieving these outcomes.

The full paper can be read here.