Deadline: Ongoing
The focus areas, of the program include equipping consumer advocates with the evidence and resources needed to influence regulatory outcomes, ensuring consumer interests are embedded in regulatory decisions affecting affordability, reliability, fairness, and sustainability, building the capacity and expertise of the consumer advocacy sector to engage effectively with regulators, market bodies, and governments, strengthening collaboration across consumer groups, experts, and stakeholders to deliver a more coordinated consumer voice, and supporting collaboration between researchers, advocates, and community organisations to maximise the reach and use of findings.
The program provides funding for targeted, time-limited projects that directly engage in regulatory processes where consumer perspectives can influence decisions, including network revenue determinations, rule changes, pricing reviews, and market reforms.
It also supports projects that strengthen the capacity of the consumer advocacy sector to represent household and small business energy consumers in regulatory and policy forums. Projects that generate and share evidence about consumer needs, impacts, and experiences to inform regulatory decisions are also eligible.
The program encourages initiatives that ensure the voices of vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers are meaningfully included in regulatory and policy processes. It also supports activities that promote systemic change by improving transparency, fairness, and long-term consumer outcomes in energy markets.
Eligible applicants include not-for-profit organisations within Australia whose purpose or mandate allows them to carry out advocacy for household and small business energy consumers, including social enterprises registered as not-for-profit organisations, as well as bona fide research organisations with a public purpose.
For more information, visit Energy Consumers Australia.
