Access to affordable and reliable renewable energy, transport, and waste management infrastructure remains uneven across Australia, disproportionately affecting specific demographic groups. Key populations experiencing limited access include remote and Indigenous communities, low-income households, and renters.
Key demographics include:
- Remote and Indigenous Communities
Off-grid communities or fringe-of-grid communities are “impacted by poor system reliability, high energy costs (including diesel fuel costs), thermally inefficient housing, and reliance on prepaid metering.” Many of these communities rely on off-grid systems, such as diesel generators, which are expensive to operate and maintain, and are also impacted by energy price spikes.
A lack of consumer protection and regulatory oversight also impacts these communities. This was highlighted in a recent study of over 3,000 settlements across Australia. The study found:
- Approximately 20% of the population resides in settlements where not all residents have access to essential legislative protections.
- Remote communities are 18% more likely to lack at least four of five key protections.
- Indigenous communities are 15% more likely to be underserved by electricity regulations.
- Northern Territory and Western Australia have the largest number of settlements where residents don’t have guaranteed access to certain energy legal protections.
- Approximately 5 million Australians reside in settlements that lack comprehensive consumer protections for electricity services.
- The five key legal protections examined in the study were:
- Disconnection protections for life support customers (people who rely on medical equipment that needs electricity).
- Rules for unplanned interruptions.
- Mandatory electricity disconnection reporting.
- Complaints process clarity and independence.
- Clear guidelines for rooftop solar connection.
Despite significant renewable energy potential, many remote and Indigenous communities struggle with inadequate regulatory frameworks and high costs associated with diesel-dependent electricity generation (White, ANU, 2023).
- Low-income households and renters: Low-income groups—including renters, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, and apartment dwellers—face structural barriers to accessing renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
According to Energy Consumers Australia:
- Renters, apartment dwellers, and financially struggling households are disproportionately affected by energy inaccessibility.
- Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities report lower confidence in understanding energy efficiency and difficulty accessing information.
- Renters are less likely to have access to energy-efficient technologies, such as solar panels, smart meters, and efficient heating and cooling systems.
- In 2018, only 4% of rental households had solar panels, while in 2021, 56.1% of First Nations households were renters, with 14.76% in social or community housing (FNCES, 2021)
Reasons for limited Access to Energy:
- Poor system reliability: Off-grid and fringe-of-grid communities frequently experience outages and incur high costs.
- Prepaid metering issues: Some communities require prepayment for electricity, resulting in unplanned disconnections when credit is exhausted. There is also a lack of transparency due to regulatory issues preventing the disclosure of disconnection reports for those on prepayment plans.
- Regulatory barriers: Policies prevent rental and community housing tenants from benefiting from solar subsidies and other incentives.
Policies addressing this issue:
Several policies and initiatives have been developed to improve renewable energy access for underserved communities:
- First Nations Clean Energy Strategy: This co-designed strategy aims to ensure First Nations communities are full participants in Australia’s energy transition. It focuses on creating opportunities for community ownership, access to clean and reliable energy, and long-term economic empowerment through the development of renewable energy. Projects that are already underway include:
- Smart Meter Rollout in the Northern Territory and Western Australia—installing smart meters where prepayment is high to replace outdated mechanical meters, thereby improving billing transparency and energy management (Power and Water Corporation, 2023).
- National Housing Accord Update – commitment to updating the National Housing Accord target to deliver 1.2 million new well-located homes over five years starting mid-2024, aiming to improve housing conditions and support energy efficiency.
- Regional Microgrids Program – supports the deployment of microgrid technologies to provide clean, reliable energy to First Nations communities. (ARENA, 2023)
- Household Energy Upgrade Fund – according to a new policy in Australia, the fund is “creating low-interest loans and funding upgrades to social housing, which will improve energy performance.”
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Australia Country Manager Jessica Gregory.