Helping life support customers plan ahead for power interruptions

Collaboration among energy providers led to the Life Support Power Outage Plan initiative, which aims to improve emergency preparedness for Australians relying on medical equipment at home during power outages.

The Life Support Power Outage Plan initiative was co-led by Essential Energy, alongside other energy businesses from across the sector, in a coordinated collaboration under The Energy Charter to address a critical gap in emergency preparedness for Life Support customers.

Protecting customers who rely on medical equipment at home when the power goes out presents a great challenge. For many Australians who rely on life support equipment, live with chronic health conditions, or face mobility and communication challenges, unplanned outages can pose serious risks to health and safety. This is only amplified in times of extreme weather events or regional, rural and remote areas, where resources may already be limited.

Through consultations with life support customers, carers, and healthcare providers, The Energy Charter identified a critical gap: there were no accessible, personalised tools to help these individuals prepare for power disruptions. Existing resources were often generic, difficult to navigate, or not tailored to the specific needs of people using equipment like ventilators, electric wheelchairs, or refrigerated medicines.

Together, along with extensive consultation with over 200 individuals with lived experience, the project has delivered accessible planning tools, translated resources, and a simple “CHECK. PLAN. DO.” framework to help vulnerable customers prepare for unplanned power outages.

The plan provides free and accessible tools, including a simple checklist and a downloadable plan that people can tailor to their own circumstances and share with carers, family members and health professionals.

Visit Check. Plan. Do. Power Outage Plan to access the resource.