Michael Dello-Iacovo is the Executive Manager of Advocacy and Policy at Energy Consumers Australia, an independent body representing the long-term interests of households and small businesses in the energy market. With a strong focus on affordability, fairness, and innovation, Michael’s work ensures consumer voices are heard as Australia navigates the energy transition. At the EV Infrastructure Summit, he joins a panel on commercialization to explore how go-to-market strategies, pricing, and user experience in EV charging can better serve the evolving expectations of energy consumers. We asked Michael a few questions related to EV infrastructure.
How does Energy Consumers Australia view the current rollout of EV infrastructure in terms of accessibility, equity, and value for everyday consumers? Where are the key gaps or opportunities from a consumer perspective?
Michael Dello-Iacovo: Electric vehicles offer perhaps the greatest opportunity for consumers in the energy transition by reducing the cost of driving significantly compared to an internal combustion engine vehicle. Additional electric cars also put downward pressure on electricity rates by increasing the utilisation of the existing grid. In other words, EVs provide tremendous savings for their drivers while providing positive co-benefits for all other electricity consumers, including those who don’t drive EVs.
In order to fully exploit these benefits, however, we need to ensure any barriers to utilisation are removed and that all consumers – no matter what their circumstances – can use, charge and pay for their electric vehicle conveniently and fairly.
What do you believe are the most important factors in designing public EV charging that is both commercially viable and fair to consumers—especially low-income or regional households?
Michael Dello-Iacovo: Access to data on network hosting capacity is important to enable more public EV charging infrastructure to know where the best locations are to connect in the network. We recently submitted a rule change request to the AEMC to transform distribution network planning requirements, one of which is for networks to collect more low-voltage network data and transparently share that so community groups and other third parties can identify where community batteries and public EV chargers are best located.
Consumers need to be empowered to access the benefits of EVs. This includes support to make EV-related decisions and robust consumer protections, and adequate enabling infrastructure.
How can EV infrastructure providers better incorporate consumer feedback to enhance user experience—particularly around reliability, usability, and payment ease?
Michael Dello-Iacovo: Ask them! And keep in mind that early adopters of EVs are not representative of prospective future EV drivers. Our most recent Consumer Energy Report Card survey found that only 38% of consumers know where their nearest public EV charger is, but 86% of EV owners do.
Think about where chargers are needed, including factors like areas where there are more people who can’t charge at home, such as those without off-street parking or living in old apartment buildings. Think about payment experience, like app usability for drivers who
aren’t as comfortable with apps, or who don’t want to download multiple apps to charge in different locations.
What role do you see Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology playing in Australia’s future energy system, and what consumer protections or incentives need to be in place to support its adoption?
Michael Dello-Iacovo: V2G has gained momentum over the last few years, and it has the potential to play a significant role in our energy system —especially as EV ownership is expected to increase over the coming decades. It’s really interesting to think about EVs as storage units that can help balance the grid. However, for V2G to take off, consumers need to feel confident in participating and clearly understand how this could positively impact their energy bills. This requires strong consumer protections, particularly around data privacy, and clear communication when it comes to third-party control. Consumers are often hesitant about giving up control over their CER, so doing so with their vehicles can feel even more daunting. If they don’t see clear value, they’re unlikely to engage. That’s why communication is crucial, along with financial incentives for demand flexibility services enabled by V2G technology.
As EV adoption scales up, how can policymakers and industry leaders ensure that public charging infrastructure rollout aligns with broader energy affordability goals for households and small businesses?
Michael Dello-Iacovo: There’s a real need to prioritise equitable access —think about renters, apartment dwellers and rural communities. These consumers rely on public charging because they often don’t have access to off-street parking, or because EV uptake in their area isn’t high enough to make infrastructure rollout financially viable for private businesses. This is an ongoing dilemma in the EV space: without enough public chargers, consumers are hesitant to buy EVs, and without enough EVs on the road, it’s hard to attract investment. That’s why government support such as grants has been absolutely crucial here.
It’s only by considering the diversity of consumer circumstances and rolling out public EVCI accordingly that we can make EV ownership accessible to more people. This, in turn, benefits all electricity consumers, including those who don’t own an EV, as greater adoption lowers electricity bills for everyone.
