Resident data needed for network map

THE City of Greater Bendigo is calling on residents to provide their electricity usage data for a network mapping project.

People are being asked to provide a copy of a recent electricity bill, and the data gathered will be used to create an energy demand map to identify the region’s electricity needs, according to City director of health and wellbeing Vicky Mason.

“Energy use is expected to increase as our population grows and some parts of our network are under more stress at certain times when people need more power,” she said.

“Mapping the network with more detailed knowledge on how energy is used in different suburbs will help us understand the region’s existing and future energy needs and see where opportunities lie at a local level, particularly with solar energy and future storage options.

“To make this electricity mapping more accurate, we are inviting people from across Greater Bendigo with residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural properties to provide a copy of a recent power bill and give consent for the City to access their meter data, which stores data from the past two years.

“This will allow us to accurately measure power usage using data, see where network improvements could be made and plan Bendigo’s energy future.”

The project is in collaboration with the Centre for New Energy Technologies, Powercor and the Solar Energy Application Lab unit at RMIT University.

Ms Mason said the City would provide de-identified resident energy data to the SEAL unit for the suburb or town, and no individual names or businesses would be listed.

For more information on the project or to get involved, visit bendigo.vic.gov.au/energy-map.