Priority initiatives

The Commission’s Applying the Energy Market Objective guide was published in 2019. The energy market objectives are at the heart of every decision the Commission makes. Recognising the unprecedented change and transition underway the Commission is updating its approach to applying these objectives. The new decision-making framework will allow us to take a practical and transparent approach to decision making that works to help deliver a decarbonising, affordable, and reliable energy system for all consumers. This new framework will explicitly increase the consideration of implementation issues and be used to drive process improvements within the Commission. Transparency will ensure that our stakeholders understand our approach to decision-making, so that we deliver timely and effective rule changes when they are needed.

How we have worked up until now will not enable us to deliver what is required to provide consumers with the energy system of tomorrow. Having clear guidance for the organisation on how to prioritise and appropriately resource projects allows for decisions to be made around the most valuable work we can do. The Commission remains open to all to identify issues and seek a rule change to improve the system for all consumers. However, the focus of the organisation needs to be on the work that provides the largest benefit to all in this time of transition.

A new prioritisation framework will help us to improve how we prioritise work through a structured and consistent approach on the most important issues. The Commission will consult annually on review and rule change priorities for the next 12 months. These will be published on the Commission website and we will continue to update these on an ongoing basis. Our priorities for the 2021-2022 timeframe are now up on our website.

Feedback and input from stakeholders across industry is a core element of what we do and critical to performing our role, understanding trends and concerns, being forward thinking and making good decisions. A two-way dialogue is critical in building trust and transparency around how we make our decisions and the outcomes we are seeking to deliver.

We are aware of the depth and breadth of the reform agenda and are working to strengthen our open and transparent processes, methods and strategic intelligence capabilities, to evolve them to fit the pace and speed of the world we are in. How we can better support our stakeholders is key.

We are focused on engaging early and often with key stakeholders in a way that meets their needs. By doing so, we make the most of our position to understand issues from different perspectives, build support and consensus for change across the sector.

We are continuously looking at ways we can better engage and collaborate with all stakeholders and make providing feedback easier through new and improved digital platforms, new engagement tools, industry forums, focus and working groups and different ways of working. This initiative will increase opportunities to engage, listen, inform and deepen engagement around and beyond our work program.

The ability to deliver effective outcomes for consumers through practical rule changes and expert advice relies on us communicating complexity with simplicity and brevity. Clear and accessible materials are important in conveying the objectives and benefits of rule changes and facilitating better engagement in defining problems, identifying solutions and eliciting diverse perspectives on both.

With the volume of engagement needed on reforms across the sector, stakeholders have decreasing amounts of time. Having shorter, targeted and more impactful documents will allow stakeholders to identify the information they need faster. It will also help them to understand clearly how the Commission has made reforms – what it heard from stakeholders, how it considered this feedback in the context of the problem and the basis for which it made its decision. It is important that stakeholders understand how they have been heard.

Brevity will improve the accessibility and effectiveness of all Commission, rule changes and review work and supporting communications materials.

Deep understanding of markets and economics is a central part of the Commission. These skills are complemented by engineering and policy-making expertise. We aim to bring cross sectoral teams together to grapple with the challenges the energy sector is facing and seek views across the sector on how to improve outcomes for consumers. It isn’t enough to grapple with the challenges of today. To deliver on our objectives we need to look forward and consider where the sector is moving to in order to be able to deliver the right outcomes.

Our in-house quantitative analysis and energy market modelling capability will continue to be leveraged to provide unique insights for an increasingly complex, interrelated and expanding work program. Our forward thinking will continue to be improved through fostering and expanding our relationships with academic institutions undertaking cutting-edge research and involvement with key international energy market forums.

Effective collaboration between energy market bodies will lead to better long-term outcomes for energy consumers. The Commission will continue to partner with energy market bodies formally and informally to deliver better outcomes, including through better coordinating and sequencing of work programs and streamlining implementation of rule changes. Our strategic plan recognises how central this is for us to be able to deliver effective rule changes and reviews.

The outcomes we seek to achieve will only be realised through our people. An engaged workforce where we support one another, value diversity and expand our expertise in a broad range of capabilities necessary for our objectives is critical.

We will work with our people to identify opportunities to strengthen our ways of working and look at introducing new ways of working that deliver on our strategic plan. Our focus will be on providing opportunities to help drive engagement, retention and inspire our people to do their best work and learn and grow.

Finally, underpinning every initiative is aligning how we work with our values and behaviours to ensure we all find meaning in our work. The best work happens when we know that what we do does not just work but contributes to something that will improve other people’s lives. We will define our values and ehaviours to support the implementation of our Strategic Plan.