The energy advantage: The next growth opportunity for Australia and New Zealand

What connects grid-scale batteries, petrol prices, and rooftop solar?

They all link to a striking contradiction taking hold across Australia and New Zealand: energy production and electricity generation are at record highs¹, but so are concerns about supply, particularly affordability, reliability, and grid capacity.

These concerns are having a tangible and negative impact on local investment and productivity.

Research from Schneider Electric's 2026 Energy Technology Pulse Report shows a clear disconnect between business ambition and confidence. Most business leaders are confident about economic growth, yet nearly 40% across Australia and New Zealand have delayed investments that would support growth due to fears around energy costs, supply concerns, and infrastructure limitations.

The research also points to a broader trend: energy has moved from the facilities team to the boardroom. More senior business leaders are prioritising access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy to improve productivity and competitiveness.

Key takeaways

01 - Investment remains strong
More than three-quarters of businesses in Australia and New Zealand are maintaining or increasing spending.

02 - But energy instability is slowing growth
Nearly 40% of businesses are delaying or scaling back expansion plans.

03 - A majority see the energy transition as a competitive advantage
More than 65% of leaders believe it will strengthen business performance.

04 - Energy efficiency is a major investment priority
Across both Australia and New Zealand.

Energy for growth

The encouraging news is that despite economic pressures, business confidence is solid. Three quarters of organisations are maintaining or increasing investment levels, with 77% in Australia and 74% in New Zealand committed to spending.

Many organisations recognise that energy strategy is now business strategy. Decisions about electrification, efficiency, and energy technology are becoming foundations for long-term plans.

As a result, most leaders see the energy transition as an opportunity, with 66% of Australian respondents and 71% from New Zealand believing accelerating the transition will increase competitiveness. After automation and AI, energy efficiency ranks as one of the top investment priorities (51% in AU and 46% in NZ).

The costs of uncertainty

However, across Australia and New Zealand, around half of businesses (50% AU, 48% NZ) say energy challenges will reduce profitability. Energy instability, including volatile costs, supply concerns, and infrastructure limitations, continues to disrupt business confidence, with 4 in 10 businesses scaling back plans as a direct result of uncertainty around energy prices and supply.

The economic harm to both countries of energy worries is broader than higher spending on bills. Reduced profitability constrains investment, delaying innovation, technology upgrades, and expansion plans. Over time, these decisions reduce productivity and competitiveness further.

For Australian organisations, these financial pressures are coming alongside increasing compliance and the need for better sustainability data, like climate disclosure requirements.

The good news is that advances in energy technology mean operational, process, and energy insights can be seen in one place. By connecting power systems, industrial processes, and operations data, leaders can consolidate costs, and manage compliance, performance, reliability, and energy use together, rather than as parallel programs.

Investment is changing shape

What I find most encouraging in the research is that businesses are not standing still. They're actively changing where they invest. Energy efficiency has emerged as one of the highest priorities across both markets, alongside automation, AI, and digital technologies.

Source: Schneider Electric

Image: Across both countries, priorities converge around efficiency and optimisation.

Leaders are focusing on areas where they can improve visibility and extract greater value from existing assets, by using energy technology to optimise energy consumption, improve operational performance, and manage risk.

Investments in software, data, automation, and AI can create value quickly while also building the foundation for future growth.

A bright spark on the horizon

Take La Trobe University, which reduced emissions by 75%, increased visibility into energy use and performance, and reduced costs, in part through software that managed, monitored, and automated energy consumption, supporting new on-site solar generation and switchgear.

For decades, competitiveness was shaped by factors such as geography, scale, or access to capital. Today, another factor is emerging: how effectively an organisation manages energy is becoming a meaningful source of competitive advantage.

Leaders that improve efficiency, increase visibility across operations, and accelerate electrification are strengthening their ability to control costs and adapt to changing market conditions. They are also positioning themselves to respond more effectively to customer expectations, regulatory requirements, and future energy demands.

The debate is no longer about whether energy matters to business performance. That question has already been answered, so the real decision is how organisations respond.

The businesses that succeed in the years ahead will be the organisations that use energy most intelligently.

In Australia and New Zealand, with ample renewable resources, societal support for change, and a history of embracing technology, energy technology will prove to be one of the most important growth opportunities of the next decade.