Commissioner Jess Young's remarks to the Women's Health in the North 'Power Up Victoria Project' event

For those of you who may not be familiar with the Essential Services Commission, we regulate Victoria’s essential services in a way that is fair, transparent, and responsive to the needs of the community.

Our work plays an important role in creating the conditions to ensure that the sectors we regulate meet the needs of both consumers and the broader community.

Ultimately, our role is to make sure essential services work for all Victorians. We do this by setting and enforcing the rules, and by championing the rights and voices of consumers, particularly those experiencing vulnerability.

As a Commissioner, one of the things I’m most pleased to talk about is our commitment to making essential services equitable, accessible, inclusive, and responsive to all consumers, regardless of their life circumstances.

We know that not everyone starts from the same place. For many people, real and persistent barriers stand in the way of accessing the support and services they need. These might include language or cultural differences, financial hardship, disability, or systemic issues that simply weren’t designed with their needs in mind.

When essential services don’t take those barriers into account, people get left out, and it’s usually those already doing it hardest who are left behind. That’s why accessible, inclusive, and responsive essential services matter so much.

We want to make sure services aren’t just available, but that people can actually use them.

One way we’re putting that commitment into action is through our invaluable partnership with Women’s Health in the North (WHIN) on the Power Up Project. Their deep insight and strong community connections in the Northern metropolitan region have been essential to making this work a success.

Thanks to WHIN’s trusted, peer-led education model and their culturally sensitive approach, we’ve been able to create safe and supportive spaces where women feel confident to learn about the Victorian energy market.

I’m really pleased to see that through this project, many of you have gained knowledge on key topics, like switching energy plans, understanding your bills, finding better deals, and saving money through energy efficiency.

When you understand your options, you can choose the best energy plan for your family, switch if you find a better deal, and use energy more efficiently to lower your bills. You also gain a clearer understanding of your rights as a customer, so you can avoid being overcharged or treated unfairly.

Having this knowledge puts you in control of your energy costs and helps you feel more confident making the best choices for your home and family.

I encourage you to share what you’ve learned with your family, friends and community, so we can all make smarter choices and support each other.

This collaboration has not only helped build women’s confidence and understanding of the energy market, but it’s also given the commission real insights into lived experience.

Through this project, we’ve had the opportunity to hear directly from women about the barriers they face when engaging in the energy market. These insights help us understand where the gaps are, and where protections may not be reaching the people who need them most.

That kind of access and trust is something we, as a regulator, simply can’t achieve on our own. And that’s why partnerships with community organisations like WHIN are so powerful. They help us see and hear the experiences of people we might not otherwise reach.

To finish, I want to say a thank you to all the women who’ve taken part in this project, to the organisations who’ve joined us today in support of this important initiative, and especially to Manasi Wagh and Shazia Syed, who have championed this work from the very beginning.

Thank you.