Solidarity Credit 1st Quarter Report

Our COVID-19 solidarity credit program started on 1 April 2020 (and no, it was no April Fools Day joke). Our solidarity credit program is about giving up 100% of our revenue from electricity retailing and putting it to combat the social and economic consequences of COVID-19 in both Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific. You can read about the program more fully here.

April through June was the first quarter for the program and in total our great Cooperative Power customer members raised $1,387.50. It’s a really positive start to making a difference. This means that $683.75 went to Australian Cooperative Power customer members that put their hand up for a bit of solidarity, and $683.75 was paid to our international development partner Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA. That money has gone to energy democracy programs in Nepal, Vietnam and the Philippines. You can read APHEDA’s report here.

Finally,  the best way we can sum up the early impact of our solidarity credit is to use the words of one of our customer members:

“The Cooperative Power solidarity credit that was offered at the start of the pandemic was a great example of real, material, concrete solidarity. It felt like a linked arm more than charity, at a time of pointed uncertainty, with both my partner and I losing the majority of our work and income”