PowerUp Victoria: regulator’s partnership with Women’s Health in the North
21 April 2026
The Essential Services Commission partnered with Women’s Health in the North last year for the PowerUp Victoria project. The pilot program delivered eight energy information workshops to migrant and refugee women in English, Dari, Nepalese, Arabic and Urdu. The pilot provided an opportunity to test the potential of a community-based engagement model to deliver:
improved energy literacy among multicultural women
insights to inform our compliance and enforcement work by gaining a better understanding of the challenges these women face in the energy market.
Women’s Health in the North (WHIN) is a community organisation working to eliminate gender inequities and improve the health, safety and wellbeing of women and gender-diverse people in Melbourne’s northern metropolitan region. Through WHIN’s established networks, the pilot reached consumers who may not typically engage with regulators or essential service providers.
This approach demonstrates the value of partnering with trusted community organisations to deliver culturally informed, accessible programs that create meaningful impact.
Delivering energy literacy through peer education
The commission funded PowerUp Victoria and provided project oversight. We developed workshop materials, trained peer educators and coordinated service provider participation. WHIN recruited multilingual peer educators from the participating communities to deliver the workshops.
The workshops focused on practical knowledge and support, including:
how to read and understand energy bills and identify key charges
how to compare energy offers using the Victorian Energy Compare website
available financial supports, including concessions, the Utility Relief Grant Scheme and retailer hardship programs
the role of the Energy and Water Ombudsman, Victoria and how to access independent dispute resolution when problems arise.
Community roadshow
The PowerUp Victoria program concluded with a community roadshow ‘Women & Money Connect Fest’ that brought together consumers and service providers. The event attracted more than 60 participants and 8 service providers, including:
Yarra Valley Water
community legal centres
financial counselling services
government agencies responsible for administering energy assistance programs.
Women & Money Connect Fest gave participants the opportunity to seek in-person assistance and apply their knowledge. One of the key activities was EWOV’s ‘Bring your bills’ session, where participants received practical guidance about how to understand their bills and resolve billing concerns.
Participants also received support to apply for the Power Saving Bonus and other assistance programs. On the day, 22 participants received direct support to reduce their energy costs or access financial assistance. One participant saved $2,374 through bill reviews and access to available support programs.
Outcomes and impact
The pilot program reached over 100 multicultural women from Arabic, Afghan, Nepalese, Indian and Pakistani communities. Delivering the workshops in the women’s primary languages created a culturally safe learning environment.
In a post-workshop survey conducted by WHIN, participants reported:
feeling comfortable asking questions and discussing their experiences with energy providers
improved understanding of energy bills, navigating energy efficiency programs and the support services available if they are experiencing payment difficulty
a greater awareness of consumer protection agencies such as the Energy and Water Ombudsman, Victoria (EWOV)
improved understanding of how to seek help when they experience billing issues or disputes with their provider.
Key insights
Harnessing local community connections
Consumers from multicultural communities may face cultural, language and other barriers, as well as broader systemic challenges when accessing and participating in the energy market. WHIN’s established relationships gave the commission access to a group of consumers who may otherwise be difficult to reach.
The pilot demonstrates the importance of working with community organisations when engaging with communities who experience barriers to essential service markets.
Peer-education supports effective knowledge transfer
The peer education model proved highly effective in delivering consumer education.
Participants engaged more openly with educators who shared their language and cultural backgrounds. Trusted community educators helped the women understand complex topics such as billing structures, energy offers and consumer protections. We learned that simply translating materials without context does not work. Workshops delivered in-language while teaching participants to navigate energy retailers in English empowered them to self-advocate and achieve the best outcomes.
We encourage energy businesses and other government stakeholders to go beyond direct translation. Using culturally informed and accessible approaches helps communities receive information they can understand and act on.
Persistent barriers to access hardship support
A key takeaway from the pilot was a need to increase awareness of available financial and hardship support within multicultural communities. For many participants, the workshops served as their first introduction to the Utility Relief Grant Scheme, concession programs, the Victorian Energy Compare tool and EWOV’s services. Low awareness of hardship support by participants demonstrates that while our laws require such information to be readily available on bills and retailers’ websites, cultural, language and other systemic barriers continue to prevent this community from accessing their energy consumer rights and entitlements.
The commission is committed to ensuring that essential services are accessible, inclusive and responsive to all consumers, regardless of their circumstances. We will continue to explore innovative, community-centred approaches to strengthen engagement and intelligence collection in future initiatives.
