David Havyatt, ECA’s Senior Economist, participated in a session at the 2016 Australian Clean Energy Summit titled Putting Consumers First.

The starting point for the session was the following summary of the current state of the market:

“For far too long, consumers have benignly sat at the end of the supply chain. However, having now made significant investments in new clean energy technologies, they have become an intrinsic part of an energy ecosystem that needs to work hard to continue to remain relevant and serve their needs”. 

David’s presentation and remarks examined consumer behaviour in markets for new energy services and technology, such as rooftop solar PV and home battery storage. ECA has completed recent research in this area, the findings of which were summarised in the remarks.

David also made a number of observations about the market design required to make sure that the best possible outcomes are delivered in the long term interests of consumers.