United Energy and Citipower will seek community input in identifying new transmission investment opportunities for the upcoming 2026-2031 period.
The Regulatory Reset community forums will inform the energy providers five-yearly Regulatory Proposal to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).
United Energy and Citipower’s Manager for Regulation, Renate Vogt, said customers’ views were integral to successfully identifying new investment opportunities.
“With customers at the heart of our business, listening to a broad range of views about the future of electricity, and how we plan and operate our network, is crucial,” Ms Vogt said.
“It’s a critical process as the outcome determines how much money is needed to deliver safe, resilient, and reliable electricity supplies that offer the greatest value to our customers and the communities we service.
“During our last Regulatory Reset for 2021-2026 we engaged almost 5,000 households and businesses and engaged more than a 1,000 people during 32 customer and stakeholder forums.
“With the whole energy system transitioning rapidly, discovering how customers want this to occur, and how we will play a role in helping to facilitate this, will be exciting.”
Community engagement will take place across each stage of the Regulatory Proposal’s development during the next three years.
The current, initial, stage will focus on four key themes: affordability and equity, reliability and resilience, the energy transformation, and the customer experience.
“Our first phase of engagement aims to establish a joint vision for our network’s future and will help define the more specific topics and issues we will further explore next year in consultation with customers and stakeholders,” Ms Vogt said.
“We’re committed to engagement to shape, test and challenge our draft proposal due in 2024 and the final Regulatory Proposal to the AER in 2025.”
The Regulatory Reset community forums are being held in various locations on the dates listed below:
South Melbourne : 17 October 2022, 5.30pm-9.00pm
Horsham: 18 October 2022, 5.30pm-9.00pm
Rosebud: 20 October 2022, 5.30pm-9.00pm
Bendigo: 24 October 2022, 5.30pm-9.00pm
Sandringham: 26 October 2022, 5.30pm-9.00pm
Ballarat : 7 November 2022, 5.30pm-9.00pm
Torquay: 9 November 2022, 5.30pm-9.00pm
