Energy Hardship Update – November 2022 special issue

Otago Energy Research Centre’s 16th Annual Symposium 2022: An Equitable and Low-Cost Energy Transition

Tēnā koutou katoa

Welcome to this special issue of the Energy Hardship Update. We’re sharing news of the 16^th Otago Energy Research Centre (OERC) Annual Symposium on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 November, to be held at the University of Otago in Dunedin in-person and online. The theme of this year’s symposium is ‘Equitable and Low-cost Energy Transition’.

Each day of the symposium will have a specific focus. Monday’s agenda will focus on evaluation of energy wellbeing, and Tuesday’s session will focus on energy storage and demand flexibility.

The energy wellbeing evaluation session will begin with a keynote presentation from Pam Wynne, Head of the UK’s Fuel Poverty Unit. This session will share evaluation experiences, tools and results, and aims to boost coordination and collaboration across the community of people evaluating energy wellbeing activities in New Zealand. It will be a great opportunity to hear what’s happening across Aotearoa, and beyond, and to connect with others working in this space.

Sessions on the second day will focus on issues of energy storage and demand flexibility, and will include a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities for matching energy supply and demand.

The OERC symposium brings together a range of researchers and their collaborators to provide diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities associated with the energy transition. MBIE will present on its work on a framework for energy hardship and progress towards indicators. This is part of our work on defining energy hardship.

Defining energy hardship

Registrations for the symposium will open shortly. Those wanting to present a poster or oral presentation are invited to submit an abstract by 5pm, Friday 11 November.

For more information visit:

Otago Energy Research Centre — Otago University website.

Contact us

We welcome any thoughts or questions about this area of work, and any interest you might have to be involved. For further information, please contact the Energy Markets Policy team by emailing energymarkets@mbie.govt.nz.

This update is brought to you by the Energy and Resource Markets (ERM) branch, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. ERM is the steward of two regulatory systems, the energy system and the Crown-owned mineral and petroleum system. These systems are connected – we need resources to make energy and we need energy to extract resources.