In July last year, AEMO undertook a study amongst our stakeholders to determine our reputation and stakeholders opinions on what and how we do things. As we prepare to again survey our stakeholders, we thought that it would be worthwhile to revisit the findings of last year’s study.
In short, the study found that AEMO has a strong reputation based on the organisation’s technical expertise and operation of the market, and that we have done a good job in a challenging environment, but stakeholders want greater transparency in decision-making and improvements in our consultation.
We also heard concerns about costs, both in the way we recognise the commercial implications of our decision-making and the need to take a broad view of the NEO in the long-term interest of consumers by more explicitly addressing both affordability and reliability. Connection difficulties are also causing some frustration.
There is a strong demand among stakeholders for AEMO to move further towards greater engagement across all levels of the organisation. While noting a recent improvement in our approach to consultation, many stakeholders saw this as key to enabling genuine collaboration on the issues facing the energy markets at this time of transition.
These findings have been considered by both senior management and the Board and have informed our strategic plan and individual performance targets for the current financial year. While some initiatives such as the AEMO forum review, better engagement methods and increased transparency in costs and consultation on our budgets and fees are underway, more will be undertaken over the coming months. We welcome all stakeholders to work with us as we work towards better outcomes for all energy consumers.