Youth Engagement Workshop

As part of our Regulatory Reset Proposal Engagement for the 2025-2030 period, we engaged with the youth and young adults in our community to hold discussions about their access to, current needs, and future priorities for electricity in our State.

To prepare for the workshop, a scoping discussion was held with Amber Brock-Fable, a young adult and member of our Community Advisory Board (CAB) to ensure that the methodology was appropriate and accessible to the participants and that expectations for the session were understood by all.

Laura Reed (Director, Spark), Mark Henley (AER CCP), and Rowan McKeown (ESCOSA) attended the session as observers with SA Power Networks represented by Jess Vonthethoff, Mark Vincent and Alex Lewis.

Who did we engage?

Thirteen young people and young adults attended the workshop, including those in high school and university. The participants hailed from a varied range of backgrounds and communities, including linguistically and culturally diverse young people.

The workshop was independently facilitated by Dana Shen from DS Consultancy.

What we engaged on

Participants were provided with a background on the role SA Power Networks plays within the electricity network operations. This was followed by a general discussion with the participants about their experience and expectations as a user of electricity to prompt dialogue about what's important to them, their concerns, or any barriers they experience in accessing electricity.

They were then taken through the four key themes for our Regulatory Reset Proposal, followed by in-depth discussions around those themes to determine key priorities.

What were our key learnings?

The key learnings that emerged from our engagement with the community included:

• Need for a better understanding of the energy system, with most participants requesting access to visual information and education through social media platforms on how to maintain an affordable electricity supply, including how bills are configured.
• Importance of renewable and green energy, including the transition to greater levels of renewable energy and lowering the carbon footprint.
• With a considerable amount of young people currently renting, participants raised concern about access to green energy in the rental market. They suggested greater levels of education for homeowners in their use of green energy and incentivize this on their properties or make it mandatory.
• Discussions were held to ensure the importance of accessibility and affordability for all including immigrants or newly arrived migrants, people suffering from a disability or health concerns, and customers in rural or regional settings.

Workshop Reports

Read a detailed report of our Youth Engagement Workshop to find out our key learnings from the session.

Click here to access our Engagement Infographic Summary for a quick overview of our session, documenting who we engaged with and what our key findings were.