Background

The Charge Up! project, funded by the Department of Energy and Climate through the Enable Grants Program, aims to assist households to understand their energy use, and to support the community services sector to ensure this information reaches Queensland’s most vulnerable households.

While access to energy services is a basic human need, many households struggle to afford the cost of energy, understand their energy use and navigate energy matters. This is particularly true for low income and vulnerable households.   

Community service organisations work every day to support vulnerable households with cost of living pressures, including accessing energy concessions and navigating hardship programs. The energy system is complex, and access to material that explains the market in plain terms to families can be difficult. To repair this short circuit in knowledge, QCOSS is partnering with Neighbourhood Centres Queensland (NCQ) and Energetic Communities Association (ECA).

With over 2 million visits from Queenslanders each year, neighbourhood centres are well-placed to provide feedback and insights into the needs and challenges of communities, with high levels of community trust and engagement. By activating their network of place-based, community-led organisations across Queensland, NCQ regional champions will help the helpers – supporting neighbourhood centres to assist clients with their energy needs, and making sure vulnerable Queenslanders are accessing energy efficiently.