News
A message from Richard Gross CEO
10 October 2018
I had an opportunity to speak at the AFR Energy Summit on October 10 about the importance of our grid in the sharing economy. Industry representatives and media came to hear from a wide range of energy industry and government leaders.
In my presentation, I outlined how the grid will become the internet of energy and by being connected to the network and sharing energy this way, it will be better for all our customers.
It’s clear that our customers will get more value and lower prices from being connected to, and part of, a shared system than they ever could on their own. No matter what technologies they choose to adopt.
Richard said.
I also shared how we at Ausgrid are doing our bit to deliver greater affordability and position the grid for future innovation. We are focused, first, on the top order issue of affordability. Our average network bills have come down $237 in real terms since 2014 and we are proposing a further $51 drop in network bills for our customers from the 1st of July 2019.
Our customers are seeing the benefits of Ausgrid’s transformation – we know our hard work is paying off. However, there is more work to be done. We now need to build the platform that allows greater customer choice and control. Our grid can deliver the next step change in energy affordability and will unlock true and effective competition.
I also talked about the need to invest more in the grid to enable us to build the platform to facilitate the next generation of entrepreneurs. ‘The grid’ as the enemy of the new and emerging sustainable energy technologies, when the grid, in fact, is its greatest friend.
Ausgrid is investing in game-changing business models like community batteries that combine the power of the grid and customer diversity to unlock more value for everyone.
I will continue to promote the grid as the platform which unlocks the sharing economy and that it will drive down prices for customers and accelerate innovation and delivery of new services. We know more investment in the grid will deliver this for customers.