CASE STUDY: AUSGRID VOICE OF COMMUNITY PANEL
SNAPSHOT
Process: Ausgrid Voice of Community Panel
MosaicLab’s role: Designed and delivered two Voice of Community Panel processes
Host organisation: Ausgrid
Partners: Gauge Consulting
Timeframe: 2021 - 2023
Deliberative panel participants: 45 (2022 panel) and 101 (2023 panel)
Outputs: A report containing recommendations from each panel developed by the two deliberative groups.
“The complexity and regulatory environment of network electricity businesses was going to make a Citizens’ Jury process difficult. It was challenging, but we worked through the issues and got to a great outcome. ”
OVERVIEW
MosaicLab, in partnership with Gauge Consulting, designed and facilitated two panel processes for Ausgrid as part of the development of their 2024-2029 plan for submission to the Australian Energy Regulator.
This work has involved the facilitation of 10 full-day sessions with two different panels over a three-year period, which were both randomly selected from across the Ausgrid network.
The panel process allowed customers to influence what Ausgrid spends customers money on, giving them a rare insight and influence over the cost of electricity, a particularly important issue for our communities future way of life and for the finances of everyday people.
2022 Voice of Community Panel
In 2021, Ausgrid undertook an extensive broader community engagement phase. The outputs of this work informed the deliberations of a Voice of Community Panel . The panel consisted of 45randomly selected participants from across three regions in the Ausgrid electricity network.
The 2022 panel considered and responded to the question:
The panel met seven times and agreed on recommendations that informed Ausgrid’s draft submission.
2023 Voice of Community Panel
In 2023, a new Voice of Community Panel, comprising 101 randomly selected participants, was recruited to build upon the work of the previous panel. In addition, the participants gave feedback on Ausgrid’s strategies for heat resilience, affordability and advocacy for regulatory reform.
The 2023 panellists were drawn from across Ausgrid network areas in the Hunter Valley, Newcastle, Central Coast and Greater Sydney, and the panel represented a diverse mix of new and previous (2022) panel participants.
“Strongest experience of democracy I’ve had. A truly good cross section of NSW. Really heartwarming, even with all our differences.”
The focus of the second panel was:
and look to the future while being fair to today’s customers?
The group met for three full-day sessions (plus an additional day especially focussed on the Customer Service Incentive Scheme (CSIS)) and considered the AER’s draft response to Ausgrid’s draft submission and tested additional items that Ausgrid had since developed.
The panel provided Ausgrid with their level of comfort regarding the overall proposal and associated bill impact, and insights into what Ausgrid could do to improve the document.
“I was inspired by MosaicLab, the ability to shift thinking and keep us on track, draw opinions (and) know what we wanted even if we didn’t know how to say it.”
OUTCOMES
Ausgrid incorporated the responses from the final Voice of Community workshop publishing their Regulatory Proposal plan for 2024-2029 which was submitted to the AER in December 2023.
The impact of this work goes beyond the organisation gaining an understanding of customer perspectives. The project strengthened relationships and increased regulator and stakeholder trust in Ausgrid’s commitment to responding to customer values and views.
The experience of delivering deliberative processes has also provided an opportunity for Ausgrid to build internal skills and capability, enhancing confidence and capacity in customer engagement going forward.
MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about Ausgrid’s engagement process for the Draft Plan 2024 - 2029 which incorporated extensive feedback from various stakeholders, including customers and partners, here.
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