Customer Engagement
Response to climate change
We are seeking your views on how our customers expect us to respond to climate change, its impact on our network and our customers.
Over the next 10 years, how can Ausgrid best support the communities we serve in adapting to a changing climate?
Australians have generally enjoyed the benefits of a highly resilient, secure, and reliable energy system. However, there are several escalating challenges that present an increasing risk to the resilience of electricity networks into the future. With global mean temperatures increasing, there is an increase in more natural hazards and extreme weather events and therefore an increased likelihood or probability of events that will impact the network.
The cost of natural hazard events in Australia has more than doubled since the 1970s and totalled $35 billion over the past decade[1]. The frequency and magnitude of these events are increasing due to climate change and will affect future generations more profoundly.
We are now starting to see observable impacts to communities and businesses. Natural hazards and extreme weather events increasing frequency reveal the vulnerability of Australian communities and infrastructure, including the electricity network.
Have your say on the future of the network
Customer engagement is critical to ensuring Ausgrid meets the needs of our customers and to the development of regulatory proposals submitted to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). In partnership with other networks, Ausgrid has prepared a paper to help consult with customers and stakeholders on this important issue.
This consultation paper forms part of a broader engagement on “Network Resilience”, which seeks to understand how we can best support the communities we serve in adapting to a changing climate over the next 10 years and the increased community reliance on reliable electrical networks. To enable us to do this, we must understand how our customers expect us to respond to climate change, its impact on our network and ultimately, our customers.
How to get started
Download the consultation paper. This paper forms part of a broader engagement on “Network Resilience”, which seeks to understand how we can best support the communities we serve in adapting to a changing climate over the next 10 years and the increased community reliance on reliable electrical networks. To enable us to do this, we must understand how our customers expect us to respond to climate change, its impact on our network and ultimately, our customers.
You can respond to the paper by participating in the Customer Forum on our Your Say Engagement Hub website.
Definition of network resilience
We are engaging with customers on our definition of resilience. Our proposal is that network resilience is: The ability to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard.
| RESIST | Building our capacity to withstand impacts or avoid network destruction |
| ABSORB / ACCOMMODATE | Minimising disruptions to networks and customers and supporting customers during these events |
| ADAPT / TRANSFORM | Use learnings to identify opportunities or anticipate hazards to ensure the lived experience is acceptable to customers |
| RECOVER | Ensuring plans and processes provide energy supply restoration as quickly as possible |
| HAZARD | Major disruptive event or chronic risk such as extreme weather events, cyber-attacks, or issues in power supply from fluctuations in intermittent energy sources outside of normal operating parameters. |
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References: [1] Climate Council Article 27/1/21 - Hitting Home: The Compounding Costs of Climate Inaction