Supporting vulnerable energy consumers to choose the right energy providers (and save money).

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Energy prices have been consistently rising for several years, without any sign of slowing down.

Those costs affect people on low incomes or government support more acutely.

Vulnerable consumers - people with disability, language barriers, low levels of education, and others - are disproportionately negatively affected. Energy is a source of anxiety and confusion. Every dollar counts across weekly spending on food, rent, fuel and power.

Not all energy providers act reasonably, fairly or honestly. Sales teams can be motivated to put targets and commissions above the welfare of customers.

On the other hand, there are Australian energy companies that actively support customers, provide useful information and establish relationships that benefit all parties.

The Energy Affordability Training Partnership, a Victorian Government funded collaboration between Ellis Jones, the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) and Community Information & Support Victoria (CISVic) addressed the issues facing disadvantaged consumers.

Emergency Relief (ER) workers are provided with training and resources to assist vulnerable households to reduce their energy costs.

Response

The project team structured the project into three phases: co-design, material creation & design, and evaluation.

• Co-design: Facilitating a co-design workshop with policymakers, front line workers and community organisations to map behaviours as well as common challenges, and ideate and prioritise interventions. One-on-one sessions were held with ER workers and their clients involving a range of creative, hands-on activities to understand client personas, communication methods, channels and information needs.
• Material creation & design: Incorporating the research findings, a toolkit of resources (website, fact sheets, videos, posters, bill reading tools, flowcharts) was co-developed with vulnerable consumers. This toolkit supported their engagement with the energy market and providers. It guided consumers to make choices that were right for their circumstances and, ultimately, to reduce energy costs. The materials were also written in plain language to ensure that key information was understood by all audiences.
• ‍Evaluation: Developing a measurement framework during the initial stages of the project with baseline data collected prior to the start of training. The final project evaluation outlines the extent to which the partnership meets project goals, and provides recommendations for the future roll-out of the program.

Outcomes

The partnership exceeded all project targets, demonstrating the strength of a collaborative co-design approach.

Key findings include:

• More than 90% of ER workers strongly agreed that the rights-based training provided them with the skills, knowledge and confidence to better support their clients to reduce their energy bills and associated stress and anxiety
• CISVic reported that this energy training was one of the most successful programs they’ve implemented in terms of uptake and outcome
• DELWP identified program gaps for their upcoming new policy proposals, resulting in the funding of a new project focusing on hard-to-reach CALD audiences
• New productive relationships were built between co-design participants – leading to an ongoing exchange of resources and information between networks.

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Visit the Energy Info Hub website and play with the full range of content.

See the creative output on the Ellis Jones website.

View a library of case studies.