Regulatory disparities disadvantage remote Australian communities in energy transition

Not all Australian communities are equally protected by consumer electricity retail regulations, with remote and Indigenous communities more likely to be underserved on multiple fronts. Communities in regions potentially critical to energy transition are often underserved by regulations that would otherwise ensure their own energy needs, hindering progress toward a just transition.

Messages for policy

• One in five Australians live in settlements without all five categories of legal protection, and under-protected settlements are almost without exception at the spatial periphery in remote regions.

• Remote communities and majority Indigenous communities are more likely to be underserved by electricity retail regulatory protections in Australia (18% and 15% respectively; these groups overlap).

• Clarity of rooftop solar connection conditions for prepay customers requires remedial policymaking to improve opportunities for priority communities.

• Disconnection reporting should be required nationwide for all customer types. The absence of so-called prepay ‘self-disconnection’ reporting obscures the level of energy insecurity in many settlements.