Background

Rapid development of digital technologies, combined with advances in energy management, automation of devices and smart buildings, is presenting power utility companies with new opportunities for customer engagement. Although a growing body of international literature can shed light on this topic, it is also important to consider the implications for energy consumers in Australia more specifically. As such, this rapid review focuses squarely on the national context rather than adopting a broader global focus. Given the number of Australian studies conducted in this area over the past decade, it was feasible to consider both primary and secondary academic papers in this rapid review.

Objectives

The main question guiding this rapid review was: “Drawing on primary and secondary literature employing various approaches, what do we know about digital services and communication platforms that allow for residential customer engagement and interaction with the energy system in Australia?”

The secondary objective of this project was to assess the time and resources needed to perform a scoping / rapid meta-review on a topic related to the Built Environment. Thus, information relevant to the review team’s structure, review timeline and associated workloads are also included in this report.