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The builder's path

Five steps from a problem to its solution.

For: Households in Australia can't easily tell which electricity plan is cheapest for the way they actually use power.

“Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.”
Epictetus · Enchiridion 1 (tr. W. A. Oldfather)

Routes to a solution

Six ways to take this forward

Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Australia.

  1. Step 1

    Find a lab or university incubator

    Researchers and students who can test it properly.

  2. Step 2

    Win a research grant

    Funding for a rigorous trial or study.

What this problem needs

Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.

  • Open data
  • Analytics
  • Privacy
  • Web

Ideas to explore

  • Idea 1Bill-photo plan rankerRead usage and tariff from a bill photo, build a simple usage profile, and price it against current plans for the postcode.
  • Idea 2Meter-data deep checkWith the household's consent, import a year of interval data and calculate each plan's cost hour by hour, including time-of-use and feed-in rates.

Specific to this problem

  • Energy Made Easy ↗

    Government plan comparison site and the source of plan information to price against.

Talk to first

Starter prompt

Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.

Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Australia.

Problem: Households in Australia can't easily tell which electricity plan is cheapest for the way they actually use power.
Who it hurts: Households who have stayed on the same plan for years or on the default offer, including people with solar or changing usage.
The moment it hurts: A quarterly bill after a price rise, with a line saying they could save by switching but no clear answer on which plan fits them.
What people do today: People ignore the savings line, call their retailer, or try comparison sites that ask for usage they don't know.
Why it is still unsolved: Plans differ by tariff type, time of use and discounts, so the cheapest plan depends on a household's own meter data, which most people never see in a usable form.
What solved looks like: A household uploads a bill or connects their smart meter data, and gets a ranked list of current plans priced on their real half-hourly use over the last year, with the yearly saving and the steps to switch.
Where: Australia

First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions.
Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use.
Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
  1. Understand it

    Talk to the people who live it before you build.

    “Knowledge itself is power.”

    Ipsa scientia potestas est.

    Francis Bacon · Meditationes Sacrae (1597)
  2. Prototype with AI

    Get a working version in front of people fast.

    Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.

    “The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
    Ada Lovelace · Notes on Menabrea's Sketch of the Analytical Engine, Note A (1843)
  3. Find the data

    Open data that fits this problem.

    “You cannot step twice into the same river.”
    Heraclitus · Fragment B91, via Plato's Cratylus
  4. Build it

    Tools matched to what this problem needs.

    “Let a person lift themselves up by their own self.”

    उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं

    uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ

    Bhagavad Gītā · 6.5
  5. Launch and get support

    Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.

    “As to diseases, make a habit of two things: to help, or at least to do no harm.”

    ἀσκέειν περὶ τὰ νουσήματα δύο, ὠφελέειν ἢ μὴ βλάπτειν

    Hippocrates · Epidemics I (tr. W. H. S. Jones)

Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.