First Nations organisations and energy affordability advocates have joined together to call on the Utilities Commission of the Northern Territory to exercise its regulatory duty to ensure transparent public reporting for electricity customers on prepayment arrangements.
Despite risks of disconnection — particularly during temperature extremes — nearly all remote First Nations households in the Northern Territory use prepaid electricity (where you pay for electricity before you use it).
The Territory Government acknowledges the prepaid electricity system contributes to energy insecurity due to frequent disconnections, with research finding disconnections are 'unrelentingly high' in prepay households, causing significant impacts on health and wellbeing.
The Utilities Commission of the Northern Territory says the current framework of delivering electricity in communities in the NT lacks publicly available performance reporting and service standards. This is inconsistent with both local and national retail performance reporting practices.
Australia’s First Nations Clean Energy Strategy 2024-2030 endorsed by all state and territory energy ministers commits to improved energy access and outcomes of regional and remote First Nations households using prepayment systems.
Performance reporting is essential for transparent and accountable regulation, and to ensure effective policy responses to support Territory families in hardship.
Yet current arrangements in the NT exclude remote First Nations communities, leading to unequal access to energy data that is critical for informing service improvements and meeting community needs.
The Utilities Commission must to step in and require Northern Territory Government's Power and Water Corporation and retailer Jacana Energy to publicly report and respond to incidences of energy hardship for prepayment customers.
This joint submission calls on the Northern Territory Utilities Commission to exercise its regulatory duty to ensure transparent public reporting for electricity services through:
- Establishing standardised public reporting for licensed retailers operating in remote communities through the Electricity Industry Performance (EIP) Code
- Including remote retail performance outcomes in the annual Northern Territory Electricity Retail Review - alongside data already reported for major networks
- Applying consistent retail performance reporting requirements uniformly to all licensed retailers delivering essential electricity services to households across the Territory
