ENGIE will offer a $1000 annual electricity rebate to reduce the electricity bills of eligible near neighbours to its future renewable energy assets in Australia.

The rebate will be made available through ENGIE’s integrated retail business, and be applied to its local customers’ electricity bills for the operating life of each neighbouring asset owned by ENGIE (typically between 25-35 years), alongside a comprehensive program of landowner payments, shared benefits and community investments.

The groundbreaking offer will be available to ENGIE electricity customers located near its renewable energy assets from their date of commissioning, with eligibility determined by each project’s characteristics and extent of potential impact on the neighbouring population.

For instance, the offer will be available to all households and small businesses within 20kms of ENGIE’s The Plains Renewable Energy Park in Hay, NSW.

ENGIE’s Australian CEO, Rik De Buyserie, explained the motivation for ENGIE’s additional commitment to host communities: “With our growing pipeline of renewable energy developments across Australia we’re hearing from regional and rural communities that they’re bearing a disproportionate share of the costs of the energy transition.

“Lowering the power bills of our host community customers is one simple way we can help to address that divide,” said Mr De Buyserie.

A November 2023 survey commissioned by ENGIE to understand community willingness to embrace renewables found that close to half of respondents felt actively uncomfortable with renewable infrastructure in their community. The research found that closing this gap relied on education and incentivising behaviours.

“A future net-zero economy will rely heavily on the large-scale rapid development of renewables. But we can’t continue with a cookie-cutter approach to delivering community benefits.

“It’s time we applied more benefits where they count the most, and the household power bill is a good place to start,” said Mr De Buyserie.

ENGIE’s power bill rebate will apply to ENGIE electricity bills for eligible customers on selected energy plans within a prescribed proximity to ENGIE’s operating renewable assets, conditional on the asset being commissioned and located in areas where ENGIE has a retail presence.

More information is available here.