Many First Nations people in South Australia are facing energy insecurity, particularly for households on prepayment systems, driven by extreme weather and affordability challenges.

The Network’s SA community coordinators, Glen Wingfield and Cat Beaton, spoke about this at the SACOSS (South Australian Council of Social Service) conference held on 17 February 2026.

The conference 'From Risk to Strength: Equity-Driven Climate and Disaster Resilience’ focussed on the resilience sector — and considered some of the key challenges facing the State with regard to the changing climate and increasing weather event disasters, and how South Australia, including government agencies, community service organisations and local government can work together to ensure the needs of people at increased risk are considered in disaster planning, response and recovery. 

Glen and Cat spoke about the deep energy insecurity facing many of our people relying on prepayment metering systems — where you pay for electricity before you use it — driven by extreme weather and affordability challenges.

Research by the First Nations Clean Energy Network, Original Power and Western Sydney University (among others) found there are 15,000 thousand First Nations homes across Australia who access electricity via prepayment.

The Right to Power research report launched in late 2025 highlighted for the first time a shocking 440,000 disconnection events in one year alone for households on prepayment.

Glen and Cat shared key findings from the research at the conference, and recommendations to improve access to affordable energy for prepayment communities.

At the conference, the SACOSS team also shared work the National Indigenous Disaster Resilience team has done with groups in South Australia, including a Planning Guide to Enhance the Resilience and Preparedness of Aboriginal Communities across South Australia.