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.

First Nations people living in the NT want change. Clean energy needs to be rolled out in communities and on homelands. 

A new pilot training program aimed at introducing First Nations communities to the clean energy industry is underway. A small team of First Nations workers learned the basics of solar installation by powering a series of tiny homes with panels and batteries in an intensive five-day renewable energy program held earlier this month in Mataranka, Northern Territory.