The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how customers can drive changes to the electricity sector. Its impact on customer behaviour has accelerated some existing trends and shone a spotlight on current issues.
While the pandemic has had a negligible impact on overall electricity demand, it has driven higher residential electricity consumption that has offset lower business electricity consumption.4
It has also underscored these trends:
• There is an increasing need to address energy affordability, with more residential and small to medium enterprise customers facing hardship.
• There is a shift to working from home and settlement in regional Australia, which has accentuated the decentralisation of energy demand.
• There is increased interest in, and uptake of, rooftop solar panels and household batteries as customers take control of their electricity bills and the electricity system decentralises.5