Customer Advocacy Group

This week Essential Energy's largest ever intake of apprentices are taking their first steps through hands-on theory, practical and workplace assessments.

We have 148 field and non-field powerline workers, cable jointers and electrical technicians starting in across 77 locations such as Goulburn, Grafton, Orange, Parkes, Tamworth and Wagga. Of the 148 new starters, 20 are female-identified and three are First Nations-identified.

Essential Energy currently has more than 500 apprentices and trainees at 97 locations across our footprint. Our apprenticeship program is widely recognised for its high completion rates where 93% of apprentices graduate, compared to a national average of 63% Importantly, more than 90% have remained with the business after completing their apprenticeship, with one in four promoted into higher level technical and supervisory roles.

In line with previous years, there was a high volume of applications, with a 16% increase from 2024.

Visit the Apprenticeships page on our website.

In collaboration with AlburyCity and Felicity Smart Infrastructure, Essential Energy has commenced a trial to investigate how traffic sensors on streetlights could enhance energy efficiency.

The six-month trial will see three data-collecting sensors attached to streetlight poles at two key intersections in Albury to gather real-time information about traffic flow. The data will help inform how street lighting technology can create a more efficient lighting network, lower light emissions and conserve energy.

Read the full article here.

Exploring new technologies, building smarter networks, and evaluating energy storage solutions is both exciting and challenging. We are currently testing a range of battery solutions across our regions to maximise solar generation and exports, driving better network utilisation.

Sarah Aubrey from Electrify This, like many of our customers, was eager to learn more about the when, why, and how. Our Senior Engineer for Non-Network Solutions, Peter Anderson, and Manager of Innovation, Brad Trethewey, took Sarah to one of our first 2MWh battery installations at Sovereign Hills.

Not only did Sarah learn how this battery can enhance network resilience, but she also got a crash course in some fun acronyms.

Watch the video: https://bit.ly/3OMgf2r
Learn more about our battery trials: https://bit.ly/3VKQe7Y

The 2023-24 Annual Report is now available for customers and stakeholders. The report details our performance for operations, people, customers and communities, and finances. Progress toward achieving our Corporate Strategy and Sustainability Strategy is included, along with key performance information for Essential Water and Intium. To read the report, click here.

Essential Grants will provide funding to community projects that are investing in a brighter, greener future. Whether you have a vision for solar panels for your community buildings, community gardens, STEM education or perhaps enhancing your community’s resilience to climate change, Essential Grants is here to support your community in building a sustainable future with grants of up to $15,000 available.

To stay up to date with program details and important updates, click here.

Essential Energy has been recognised as a national leader for its apprenticeship program which won at the Australian Training Awards in Canberra on 6 December.

Essential Energy's achievement was in the Australian Apprenticeships Employer category which recognises employers who have made innovative improvements in training that benefit their apprentices or trainees and their local community.

Judging included a whole-day virtual site visit and interviews with Essential Energy employees and previous apprentices.

The energy distributor’s apprenticeship program was commended for its innovation, cutting-edge training program, higher education partnerships, and focus on Future Skills. The judges took particular interest in female participation rates, attraction strategies and wellbeing support, especially after emergency events.

(L-R): People Learning and Capability team members Matt Hornby, Matt Skulander, Clint Duffy, Lara Rich, Allan Whelan, Trent Rands, Dave Sargent with the Australian Apprenticeships Employer award at the Australian Training Awards.

Essential Energy Chief People Officer, Amalie Smith says the organisation takes great pride in its training program, apprentices, and mentors.

“Our programs are designed to equip our employees with the skills needed for this evolving industry, ensuring they remain at the forefront of technological advancements,” Amalie says.

“We have a high completion rate of 93 per cent for our training programs which is significantly above the national average of 63 per cent. Additionally, more than 90 per cent of our apprentices stay with Essential Energy after completing their training, with many advancing to higher-level technical and supervisory roles.”

Essential Energy has trained more than 1,350 apprentice electrical technicians, cable jointers and powerline workers since 2001, which creates genuine career opportunities across regional, rural and remote NSW.

“We recruit and train locally, and this is the key to the success of our apprenticeship program,” Amalie explains. “By recruiting and training apprentices from across our network footprint of 95 per cent of NSW and parts of southern Queensland, our apprentices are more likely to stay and work within their regions after completing their apprenticeship programs.”

Essential Energy previously won the award in 2019.

Read more about the Essential Energy apprenticeship program

Essential Energy builds, operates and maintains one of Australia’s largest electricity distribution networks, providing a vital service to over 890,000 regional, rural and remote customers across 95% of NSW and parts of southern Queensland.

During December 2024 we are seeking new members to join our Customer Advocacy Group (CAG). Our CAG members play a pivotal role in helping Essential Energy deliver safe, reliable and affordable electricity to our customers while supporting our regional communities.

It is not necessary to be an ‘energy expert’. The beauty of the CAG is that members have varying levels of energy industry knowledge and diverse perspectives to contribute to the discussion. However, members must be an Essential Energy customer or work for organisations advocating for the interests of Essential Energy customers.

Quarterly meetings are often held in our regional communities to learn more about our business. Information is shared with CAG members prior to meetings to enable CAG members to seek feedback from their organisation and community to inform discussions. CAG members should identify issues and topics relevant to customers, review documents as needed, and distribute key information such as Community Updates, Fact Sheets, and Newsletters. Additionally, members contribute to Essential Energy’s annual Energy Charter Disclosure Statement and regulatory proposal engagement.

Five regional New South Wales communities have been chosen for a compact energy storage trial, with Essential Energy recently installing pole-mounted batteries across its network.

Essential Energy has partnered with Origin Energy to roll out the trial that seeks to understand how to best use batteries for communities to get the most out of their rooftop solar while supporting them through the energy transition.

Essential Energy crew installing a pole-mounted battery

The batteries can store the excess rooftop solar generated during the day and release it when energy demand is high and solar systems are no longer generating, such as when the sun goes down.

The trial provides the opportunity for residents to locally generate, store and use renewable energy in their neighbourhood without having to invest in a home battery.

Essential Energy’s Chief Operating Officer, Luke Jenner says that seven pole-mounted batteries are being connected to the electricity grid in each community to service nearby homes.

“The benefits of localised energy storage for the community is that the energy can be stored where it's generated, adjacent to customer homes, and then it can be used by those homes in the evening without having to be transported long distances. So effectively, we can store that energy where it's generated and where it's used,” Luke says.

Rooftop solar has transformed how the electricity network is used. There is now a two-way flow of electricity to the grid; sending and receiving. The use of batteries allows Essential Energy to manage peak demand periods and voltage on our network, especially as solar generation increases. Batteries are key part of supporting customers and the network through the energy transition.

“The communities were chosen for the trial because they are locations where there is an excess of solar energy throughout the day, and we can use the batteries to store that energy and then reuse it later on.”

The trial will see the installation of 35 batteries on power poles in five towns in regional NSW: Armidale, Port Macquarie, Dubbo, Bathurst, and Wagga Wagga.

Essential Energy will install and maintain the batteries with Origin Energy orchestrating them through its Virtual Power Plant and offering storage-as-a-service for customers, including non-Origin customers, within the trial area. The trial will be open to customers with or without solar systems.

Find out more about the Pole-Mounted Battery trial.

The shift from fossil fuel electricity generation to renewable energy generation.

Essential Energy’s role in the energy transition

Delivering safe and reliable electricity for our communities is at the core of what we do, and as the energy sector transitions from coal-fired power towards renewable energy generation, we too are transforming.

Through innovation and technology, we are actively supporting the energy transition through enabling the connections of renewable energy on the network.

The poles and wires that line our streets deliver the energy that powers the homes, hospitals, schools and businesses that form our communities. But they can also allow for communities to generate, share and store their own electricity.

Building the network of the future will empower communities to be a part of the transition and can drive economic growth in regional, remote and rural New South Wales.

We are trialling and implementing ways to connect communities to share energy for a better tomorrow and developing the skills and training so our people can inspire and enable the network of the future.

Together we can build a brighter future for regional, rural and remote New South Wales.

We are empowering the energy transition.

Read more about the energy transition and benefits for regional, rural and remote communities.

There was a strong interest in the program with 490 groups progressing to the voting phase, and almost 170,000 votes received. This year 80 community groups were supported across 20 zones.

We were thrilled to see many diverse groups receive funding, including 32 groups located within small communities who received either first, second or third place funding.

View the Champions for each zone, including the Small Communities category.