Reliability and resilience are crucial aspects of a dependable and consistent energy supply system. They play a significant role in ensuring that when you flip a switch or plug in an appliance, you can count on a steady flow of electricity. This factsheet sheds light on the fundamental concepts of reliability and resilience in the context of an electricity network.
What are reliability and resilience?
Reliability refers to the ability of an electricity network to consistently provide power without interruptions or disruptions. It means that you can rely on having electricity whenever you need it, whether it's for lighting, heating, or running your devices.
Resilience is the capability of an electricity network to recover quickly from unexpected events or disturbances, such as severe weather, accidents, or equipment failures. A resilient system can bounce back from these challenges, minimising downtime and ensuring your power supply remains stable.
Why are reliability and resilience important?
Reliability and resilience are vital because they ensure you have access to a stable energy supply for your daily needs. Reliability prevents frequent power outages, while resilience guarantees a swift response and recovery in case of unexpected disruptions.
There are four key components that ensure a reliable and resilient energy supply:
- Robust infrastructure
- Effective maintenance
- Emergency preparedness
- Smart grid technologies
Understanding the significance of reliability and resilience empowers you to make informed choices and be prepared for any electricity-related challenges.
Challenges and opportunities
Ensuring reliable and resilient power supply to customers is a top priority for us, however, it presents unique challenges. This is particularly the case for rural and regional customers due to their vast and often remote geography. The extended distances power lines must cover means that maintenance and repair can be challenging.
Additionally, as the climate evolves, regions have become increasingly more prone to extreme weather events, such as floods and wildfires, which can damage infrastructure and cause prolonged outages. Rural and regional areas are particularly vulnerable, with limited access to resources. Furthermore, technological gaps may hinder the adoption of advanced solutions, however, these challenges also offer opportunities as a distributor for innovation, with the chance to develop more robust, resilient, and efficient power systems in these areas. We want as many people as possible to feel secure and safe with not only their day-to-day energy usage, but also in times of extreme weather events.
In action, this may look like this:
- The introduction of smart grid technology paves the way for real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and swift issue resolution. This translates to a grid that's more reliable and resilient, able to adapt to challenges efficiently.
- The shift towards renewable energy sources presents a unique opportunity to construct energy systems that are not only cleaner but also more robust and enduring. By harnessing renewable power, we can fortify our grid against disruptions.
- Empowering consumers with technologies like rooftop solar panels and energy storage systems serves to bolster grid resilience and reliability. These resources alleviate the burden on central infrastructure, fostering a more dependable energy network.
Customer and stakeholder engagement
During our broad and wide engagement phase, our customers confirmed that they have an expectation that we deliver reliable and resilient electricity, both during their average day, but also in times of emergency. They want us as distributors to play both a proactive and reactive role in improving resilience. This is especially critical for regional and rural customers.
As part of our Deep and Narrow engagement phase, the needs and priorities of our rural and regional customers were explored in more detail at the Rural and Regional Summit held in June 2023. Participants provided feedback on a range of proposed community outcomes including:
- Resilience was front of mind for many of them. It was recognised that effort to improve resilience required a collective effort between customers, communities, distributors and other emergency agencies.
- Improved network reliability and power quality were vital to sustain and encourage economic growth. This point was emphasised by commercial and industrial customers operating in energy-intensive sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.
- Improving network reliability, capacity, and power quality were all interconnected and essential to addressing the service inequities faced by many regional and rural communities. In the absence of tackling these issues, realising the benefits of clean energy transition would be difficult for these communities.
To learn more about this theme, browse the documents section on this page.
To see how we are currently engaging with customer and stakeholders on this theme, visit the Focused Conversations page.
Explore the other themes
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Reliability and resilience are crucial aspects of a dependable and consistent energy supply system. They play a significant role in ensuring that when you flip a switch or plug in an appliance, you can count on a steady flow of electricity. This factsheet sheds light on the fundamental concepts of reliability and resilience in the context of an electricity network.
What are reliability and resilience?
Reliability refers to the ability of an electricity network to consistently provide power without interruptions or disruptions. It means that you can rely on having electricity whenever you need it, whether it's for lighting, heating, or running your devices.
Resilience is the capability of an electricity network to recover quickly from unexpected events or disturbances, such as severe weather, accidents, or equipment failures. A resilient system can bounce back from these challenges, minimising downtime and ensuring your power supply remains stable.
Why are reliability and resilience important?
Reliability and resilience are vital because they ensure you have access to a stable energy supply for your daily needs. Reliability prevents frequent power outages, while resilience guarantees a swift response and recovery in case of unexpected disruptions.
There are four key components that ensure a reliable and resilient energy supply:
- Robust infrastructure
- Effective maintenance
- Emergency preparedness
- Smart grid technologies
Understanding the significance of reliability and resilience empowers you to make informed choices and be prepared for any electricity-related challenges.
Challenges and opportunities
Ensuring reliable and resilient power supply to customers is a top priority for us, however, it presents unique challenges. This is particularly the case for rural and regional customers due to their vast and often remote geography. The extended distances power lines must cover means that maintenance and repair can be challenging.
Additionally, as the climate evolves, regions have become increasingly more prone to extreme weather events, such as floods and wildfires, which can damage infrastructure and cause prolonged outages. Rural and regional areas are particularly vulnerable, with limited access to resources. Furthermore, technological gaps may hinder the adoption of advanced solutions, however, these challenges also offer opportunities as a distributor for innovation, with the chance to develop more robust, resilient, and efficient power systems in these areas. We want as many people as possible to feel secure and safe with not only their day-to-day energy usage, but also in times of extreme weather events.
In action, this may look like this:
- The introduction of smart grid technology paves the way for real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and swift issue resolution. This translates to a grid that's more reliable and resilient, able to adapt to challenges efficiently.
- The shift towards renewable energy sources presents a unique opportunity to construct energy systems that are not only cleaner but also more robust and enduring. By harnessing renewable power, we can fortify our grid against disruptions.
- Empowering consumers with technologies like rooftop solar panels and energy storage systems serves to bolster grid resilience and reliability. These resources alleviate the burden on central infrastructure, fostering a more dependable energy network.
Customer and stakeholder engagement
During our broad and wide engagement phase, our customers confirmed that they have an expectation that we deliver reliable and resilient electricity, both during their average day, but also in times of emergency. They want us as distributors to play both a proactive and reactive role in improving resilience. This is especially critical for regional and rural customers.
As part of our Deep and Narrow engagement phase, the needs and priorities of our rural and regional customers were explored in more detail at the Rural and Regional Summit held in June 2023. Participants provided feedback on a range of proposed community outcomes including:
- Resilience was front of mind for many of them. It was recognised that effort to improve resilience required a collective effort between customers, communities, distributors and other emergency agencies.
- Improved network reliability and power quality were vital to sustain and encourage economic growth. This point was emphasised by commercial and industrial customers operating in energy-intensive sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.
- Improving network reliability, capacity, and power quality were all interconnected and essential to addressing the service inequities faced by many regional and rural communities. In the absence of tackling these issues, realising the benefits of clean energy transition would be difficult for these communities.
To learn more about this theme, browse the documents section on this page.
To see how we are currently engaging with customer and stakeholders on this theme, visit the Focused Conversations page.
Explore the other themes
Back to top
Back to Regulatory Reset main page
