Australian Energy Market Operator
Mapping the forces shaping energy data innovation for AEMO
Australia's consumer energy data system should fuel innovation — helping startups and businesses build products and services that benefit everyone. But barriers across the system were holding that back. We partnered with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to uncover what was getting in the way, map the forces at play, and co-design practical actions to support a more open and innovative energy data landscape.
Outcomes
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A system map of the energy data landscape, designed to uncover opportunities for — and barriers to — innovation using consumer energy data
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Co-designed advocacy and strategic decisions for AEMO related to the Consumer Data Right (CDR) and energy data system innovation
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A set of actionable recommendations and initiatives to reinforce positive, sustainable outcomes for emerging and existing businesses in the energy data system
A complex system with competing forces
AEMO is responsible for designing and operating a sustainable energy system — one that's adaptive, supports emerging markets, and delivers affordable, safe and reliable energy for all Australians.
But the energy system is shaped by competing needs: consumers, government, organisations, market forces and regulatory frameworks all pull in different directions. We worked with AEMO to navigate this complexity and recommend initiatives that would help the consumer energy data system better support emerging markets and services. That meant engaging directly with a diverse range of businesses operating across the sector.
A simplified diagram showing how the energy market works in in Australia. This was an effective tool in helping people to understand the way the industry connects and works together.
Adapting to crisis — and building resilience
COVID-19 deepened the economic strain on new businesses, making energy data innovation even more challenging. At the same time, the pandemic underscored how important it is to have flexible, resilient strategies that keep essential systems — including energy — running during times of crisis.
Working alongside AEMO, we remotely facilitated the co-design of short- and near-term strategies to keep the consumer energy data system stable and continue supporting businesses well into the future.
Bringing diverse voices together — remotely
With in-person research off the table during COVID-19 restrictions, we needed to find other ways to bring participants into a shared forum. We used online collaboration tools and co-designed structured communication, workshop plans and outcomes in advance — keeping engagement with industry participants consistent and frequent through each project phase.
We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews and system mapping workshops with energy startups, advocacy groups, data service providers, retailers and regulatory bodies. This ensured we heard a balance of diverse perspectives from across the sector.
Visualising system forces and non-linear relationships
We worked with emerging and established businesses and industry bodies to surface the challenges they face when setting up, designing, testing and delivering new products and services.
From these co-design workshops, we identified forces, barriers and system loops that reinforce negative or positive effects on consumer energy data innovation.
AEMO continued to share, iterate and validate the system forces, loops and barriers with different industry participants, advocacy groups and legislative bodies — ensuring their accuracy through each project phase.
The process of discussion, visualisation, iteration and validation with businesses and consumer advocates who are operating in this system was so crucial in developing AEMO's understanding of the system forces. The more we uncovered and iterated the clearer it became on what tangible steps AEMO could take to contribute to positive system outcomes for energy consumers and their chosen agents. It placed us in a position to confidently move into the future with a goal and plan to achieve positive outcomes for our customers and the CDR in Energy reform. Partaking in the development of the system map was almost as rewarding as the outcomes for creating positive effects.
— AEMO stakeholder
Building shared understanding — and new connections
After each consultation and iteration of the system map, industry participants reported greater agreement with it and increasingly used it as a tool to discuss barriers to consumer energy data innovation.
The map sparked new relationships among participants. Conversations emerged as people made observations about the system and became curious about the gaps.
Together, we helped AEMO develop a clearer understanding of how they could advocate on behalf of the industry regarding the Consumer Data Right Framework for Energy — contributing to innovation and change throughout the reform.
Engaging early with diverse businesses and consumer representatives enabled us to better consider the challenges they face with the consumer energy data system, leading to informed decision making around potential design opportunities for safely and securely enabling the sharing of consumer energy data with participating CDR businesses.
— AEMO stakeholder
From insight to practical action
Drawing on our understanding of system forces and barriers, we recommended a set of actions for AEMO — each designed to clear specific negative effects and create positive flow-on outcomes across the consumer energy data system.
We made each action tangible by co-designing success measures, benefits, risks and next steps for implementation. The work also equipped AEMO with a living system map they can continue to share, iterate and validate with industry participants, advocacy groups and legislative bodies — extending their understanding of the system and how to stimulate long-term innovation.
