AusNet: Electricity Distribution Price Review
The challenge
AusNet needed a deliberative engagement program to inform its 2026–31 Electricity Distribution Price Review. The program had to bring residential and business customers into complex regulatory conversations about affordability, reliability, resilience, electrification and future network investment, and generate evidence AusNet could use in its regulatory proposal.
The approach
SenateSHJ designed and facilitated a program over more than a year, including 20 customer workshops across metropolitan and regional Victoria. The workshops involved residential and business customers and used structured discussion to help participants move from lived experience to more informed consideration of regulatory issues and investment trade-offs. We also synthesised customer perspectives into clear reporting, helping AusNet understand what customers supported, what they questioned and why.
The outcome
The program involved 117 participants. Five detailed reports were referenced throughout AusNet’s regulatory submission. Participant evaluation showed 97 per cent agreed the workshops enabled them to contribute and 83 per cent agreed AusNet took their views seriously. Participants consistently praised the quality and neutrality of facilitation and the inclusive design of discussions.
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