The United Energy network is made up of over 11,000 commercial and industrial customers. These customers are generally non-residential with a maximum demand above 120kVA and connected to the low voltage, high voltage and sub-transmission levels of the distribution network.

These large energy users have specific needs so it’s important that we include them in our planning process and understand their priorities, particularly on energy reliability, power quality and tariffs.

In October we teamed up with CitiPower and Powercor, and spoke with a diverse range of commercial and industrial customers to understand their key challenges and opportunities for the 2026-2031 regulatory reset period.

What we heard

• Operational continuity, which relies on a stable electricity supply, is a key priority for them.
• They want visibility of what programs are being implemented and how they are progressing.
• While businesses may invest in back up supply systems, they see these as temporary measures with the distribution network maintaining a key role in providing a reliable energy supply
• Network tariffs need to be communicated in clear and simple terms

Read more in the report.

Next steps

We’re taking this feedback onboard, by:

• having a comprehensive program to maintain reliability through the current energy transition, and documenting this program in our Electricity Distribution Price Reset proposal which will be published in January 2025
• launching voltage monitoring and improvement projects to improve stability of the energy supply to large customers through our proposed Innovation Fund
• improving our communication channels and contact points for large scale energy users by expanding the number of community support officers across the network

Get involved

There will be opportunities to get involved and have your say in 2025. Go to the Regulatory Reset project page and click +Follow to receive email updates.