To Federal, State and Territory Energy Ministers, and the electricity retailers who supply prepayment power

Climate change is bringing heat our communities have never lived through before. Extreme heat is now a weather emergency, and it is hitting hardest in the places least protected from it.

Capital cities average 4 days or fewer over 40°C a year. One in three remote communities already faces more than 50, and climate projections for 2026–2036 show places like Kalkarindji in the NT with 93 days a year over 40°C, and Yungngora in WA with 152.

These are the same communities where families rely on prepayment power. When the credit runs out, the power cuts off automatically, taking cooling, refrigeration for food and medicine, and lights with it. The Right to Power report found that disconnections more than double when temperatures pass 40 degrees, and 9 in 10 homes on prepaid power in remote NT communities were cut off at least once in a year.

In a heatwave, losing power is not an inconvenience. It puts lives at risk, especially elders, babies, and people living with illness or disability.

We are calling on you to put heatwave protections in place for the communities most at risk, and to sign on to the trial this summer to keep prepayment households connected through extreme heat.

Every other emergency comes with protections for the people in its path. Extreme heat should be no different. No family should lose power in a heatwave because their credit ran out.

We stand with First Nations communities in asking you to act before the hottest months arrive.

Don't switch us off this summer.