The First Nations Clean Energy Network supports reform that can deliver a more planned, reliable, transparent and efficient Northern Territory electricity system.

But the architecture will not be fit for the Territory unless it is designed around the people and communities it serves, including First Nations communities, and around the technologies that will define the future system. 

The Network supports reform that can deliver a more planned, reliable, transparent and efficient Northern Territory electricity system.

But the architecture will not be fit for the Territory unless it is designed around the people and communities it serves, including First Nations communities, and around the technologies that will define the future system. 

Tranche 1 and the Territory Electricity Reform (TEM) program - the importance of getting it right 

The Tranche 1 instruments should be amended to strengthen the Territory Electricity Market (TEM) Rules Objective and guarantee First Nations and consumer participation. 

The Government should also commit that the later planning, access, procurement and operational rules will integrate Consumer Energy Resources (CER) and Distributed Energy Resources (DER), protect pathways for First Nations community energy, plan credibly for future growth and provide accountability commensurate with the proposed concentration of institutional power. 

Most importantly, the Northern Territory should treat this reform as a practical implementation vehicle for the First Nations Clean Energy Strategy.

That means moving beyond acknowledgement to measurable action: shared decision-making, equitable access to reliable and affordable clean energy, future-proof community infrastructure, First Nations-led planning and projects, economic ownership and participation, and transparent reporting of outcomes. 

Recommendations

Read our submission

"These projects show the opportunities for First Nations-led design and co-development of local energy solutions, improving reliability, lowering costs and reducing reliance on diesel", says Darren Miller, CEO of Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

Today, a series of recommendations on reforming prepayment metering is being presented to government, based on findings from a report led by Original Power and the First Nations Clean Energy Network.

The affordability of prepaid electricity represents an exceptional yet under examined aspect of the nation's energy transition.

Prepaid electricity — where you pay for electricity before you use it — is in common use in jurisdictions where the proportion of First Nations Australians living remotely is greatest and First Nations poverty rates are uniquely high (above 40 %).

Here we explore a previously overlooked element of the prepaid electricity system in Australia's remote and regional Northern Territory (NT): how it disproportionately burdens high consumption households with a “poverty premium”.

Our findings reveal financial disparities arising from the application of two discrete electricity payment types operating throughout the Territory since 1998: the prepayment tariff versus the residential tariff plus fixed daily supply charge.

By appraising three decades of NT Electricity Pricing Orders (EPOs) we highlight the mechanism by which prepay households using more than a threshold rate of electricity — that has varied over time — are penalised financially.

Using known rates of household energy consumption, we demonstrate that while a subset of households are better off, prepay imposes an annual premium of AUD$57–$253 on those with higher consumption (26-48kWh daily in 2018/19) — homes that incongruously experience both an elevated risk of disconnection during temperature extremes and greater energy expenses than all other Territorians.

Our perspective complicates the trope that prepay is a fairer way to distribute energy costs in Australia's most remote jurisdiction.

Authors: Bradley Riley, Michael Klerck, Francis Markham, Thomas Longden, Vanessa Napaltjari-Davis, Simon Quilty, Jimmy Frank-Jupurrurla, The prepay “poverty premium”: Perspective on Australia's Northern Territory prepayment tariff, Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 127, 2025,
104189, ISSN 2214-6296

Read the report

This joint submission encourages the Northern Territory Utilities Commission to reconsider the draft Electricity Industry Performance Code decision in light of broad support for reforming remote reporting. Enhancing transparency through these proposed reforms will:

• improve accountability
• help to ensure the EIP Code remains relevant and effective for First Nations interests
• promote more equitable energy outcomes for all households across the Territory.

On 13 May 2025, the Northern Territory Utilities Commission published a draft decision on the 2024 review of the Electricity Industry Performance Code. The draft decision addresses several issues affecting First Nations households in the Territory, including the important matter of electricity retail performance reporting requirements.

The Commission acknowledges in its draft decision that ”the current framework of delivering electricity in communities lacks publicly available performance reporting and service standards” but proposes no immediate remedial action. Instead, the Commission has deferred responsibility, stating that “given responsibility for electricity service provision rests with the Territory Government, any changes to improve performance reporting and transparency should be led by the responsible departments in the first instance”. 

In response to the Northern Territory Utilities Commission's Electricity Performance Code Review, this joint submission was put together from the following organisations: First Nations Clean Energy Network, Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory, ACOSS, AMSANT, Central Land Council, Darwin Community Legal Centre, Energy Consumers Australia, Justice and Equity Centre, NTShelter, NTCOSS, Original Power, and South Australia Financial Counsellors Association.

Read the submission

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.

A fundraising campaign raised $150,000 for the installation of a solar power energy system on Mumuthumburru (West Island), a small community off the coast of the Northern Territory's gulf region.

Marlinja Microgrid an historic achievement as the first First Nations community-owned and grid connected renewable energy project in Australia.

The small community of Marlinja in the Northern Territory is set to become home to Australia’s first 100% First Nations-owned and grid-connected solar microgrid.