Related article: Electricity retailers Mojo Power and QEnergy collapse

The initiation of this process ensures a continued supply of essential energy services to these customers.

The AER applied the market safeguard after the company was suspended from trading in the National Electricity Market by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) for failing to comply with electricity wholesale market settlement requirements prescribed in the National Electricity Rules.

Maximum Energy’s suspension will impact approximately 800 customers across Victoria and South Australia. Customers are not required to take any immediate action.

Under the Retailer of Last Resort process, each customer will be transferred to one of Origin Energy, AGL or EnergyAustralia, who will contact them directly to explain the new arrangements.

Customers are under no obligation to remain with their new retailer once they are transferred.

The AER is responsible for overseeing the national Retailer of Last Resort scheme.

Recent amendments to the National Energy Retail Law (Victoria) Act 2024 and the National Energy Retail Law (Victoria) Regulations 2024 give the AER the responsibility of managing Retailer of Last Resort events in Victoria, along with the National Energy Customer Framework regions (being Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, South Australia and Tasmania).

Related article: Energy retailers on notice with AEMC’s pricing review

This is the first RoLR event to occur under the new arrangements for Victoria.

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Related article: Regulator fines energy retailer CovaU over standing offers

CovaU is owned by TPC Consolidated Ltd.

Wollar Solar was established by BJEI Australia in 2021 to build and operate a portfolio of clean energy projects across Australia.

The TPC Board has unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favour of
the deal.

TPC chair Greg McCann said, “The TPC Board has unanimously concluded that the scheme is in the best interests of the company’s shareholders.

“It came to this view after a detailed examination of the scheme and the likely scenarios it presented to TPC and its stakeholders.

“The Board considered a range of factors, including a number of different valuation scenarios, potential risks relating to the future execution of TPC’s business growth plan, and the price at which TPC shares could trade over the medium- to longer-term if it continues as an ASX-listed company.”

Related article: GSEO buys two solar storage sites in Australia

TPC is being advised by Deloitte M&A Advisory and Allens.

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Related article: Is Tesla moving into electricity retailing in Australia?

The regulator has accepted TEVA’s application and is now seeking submissions from stakeholders for TEVA’s application up until December 18, 2023.

Tesla recently launched Phase 4 of South Australia’s Virtual Power Plant (SAVPP), which enables South Australians on low incomes to share in the benefits of renewable energy.

The $33 million expansion, funded entirely by Tesla, will provide help thousands of low-income households that had previously missed out due to their homes being unsuitable for rooftop solar by offering a battery-only option.

According to Teslerati, TEVA plans to operate in a similar fashion to Tesla Electric in Texas.

Related article: Tesla launches Phase 4 of South Australia’s VPP

Tesla Electric uses the Powerwall to reduce the stress on Texas’ grid by allowing renewable energy generated through solar panels to flow through the grid. Tesla Electric enables homeowners to help the grid and earn credits to reduce their electricity bills.

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Speaking at the National Press Club today, Dr Natale announced a plan to establish Power Australia in a bid to increase competition in the National Electricity Market (NEM), drive down prices and support the transition to clean energy.

Dr Natale said a public retailer would provide the competition needed to end price gouging and would kick-start the next wave of renewable generation.

“The time has come for publicly-owned institutions to play a much bigger role in the provision of essential services,” he said.

“We need to put people before profit, and our plan to re-establish a state-owned electricity retailer called Power Australia is going to do exactly that.

“You don’t need to be an expert to see big private companies, whose legal requirement is to maximise their own profits, should not also be handed the responsibility of looking after our health, our education, or even our ability to turn the lights on.

“Quite simply, corporate interests should not be in charge of essential public services.”

Greens MP Adam Bandt said it’s time power was in public hands.

“To end the failed experiment of privatisation, the Greens are building on our policy of re-regulating retail prices, a paler version of which has since been adopted by both parties,” he said.

“Instead of continually hoping super-profit making private corporations will bring down prices of their own free will, it is time to recreate a state-owned retailer required to work in the public interest by delivering an essential service at the lowest possible cost.”

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The AEMC’s 2018 National retail energy competition review has revealed higher prices combined with complex and confusing energy offers have driven consumer confidence to new lows.

Only one in four consumers now say energy retailers are working in their long-term interests, down 10 per cent from last year.

Satisfaction with value for money in energy is lower than banking, water, broadband and mobile sectors.

Energy is the only sector to have had decreased satisfaction in the past year, with trust dropping from 50 per cent in 2017 to 39 per cent in 2018.

AEMC chairman John Pierce said while competition in the retail energy sector continues to evolve, it is currently not delivering the expected benefits to consumers.

“There are more energy entrepreneurs operating in the market, and greater savings on offer with increasing numbers of consumers switching plans and accessing new technology,” Mr Pierce said.

“But in the 12 months since our last report, we have seen retail electricity prices rise following the closure of Northern and Hazelwood generators and higher gas commodity costs.

“While prices are now flatter or falling, we are disappointed to see retailers are still not doing enough to help their customers.

“Complex pricing plans, conditional offers, discounts from bases that vary by retailer, and an increasing trend towards discretionary win-back marketing have created consumer confusion and dissatisfaction.

“Retailer inertia and a lack of transparency have emerged as significant barriers preventing consumers gaining the maximum benefits possible in terms of prices and services.”

Mr Pierce said consumers are opting for rooftop solar to take charge of their energy.

There were 154,877 residential solar PV installations in 2017, an increase of 25 per cent from 2016, with 1.8 million Australian households now using solar panels.

Concern about retailer behaviour was driving an increase in the number of rule requests to the AEMC to protect consumers, according to Mr Pierce.

New rules have already been implemented which:

• Prohibits retailers from offering confusing retailer discounts that leave consumers worse off. The new rule starts on July 1.
• Requires retailers to notify their electricity and gas customers when contract benefits like a discount, are about to end or change. This rule started in February 2018.

Australian Energy Council general manager of corporate affairs Sarah McNamara said the sobering review was a sharp reminder to the industry of the changes needed to re-gain the trust of consumers.

“We know energy bills have increased sharply as a result of tight supply in both gas and electricity markets,” Ms McNamara said.

“The AEMC report sends a clear message that customers want greater transparency and simplicity in how energy is sold. And, fundamentally, they would like to see price relief as soon as possible.

“Importantly, the AEMC warns that re-regulating energy prices is not warranted.

“Re-regulation would hit the smallest, most disruptive and most innovative retailers hardest. This would reduce competition and innovation for consumers.”

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Origin is the first retailer to announce its new prices to take effect from July 1.

It will be the first time since 2015 there will be no increase to its mid-year retail electricity prices.

“Customers have felt the pinch of higher electricity prices and while this is a modest turnaround, we are glad to be delivering better news this year,” Origin executive general manager retail Jon Briskin said.

“Our prices reflect a more stable National Electricity Market overall.

“We’ve also absorbed higher green scheme and network costs in NSW and ACT turning what would have been another increase into a freeze on our base tariffs in those states.”

The changes apply to its base tariffs and there could be further savings available for customers if they sign up to competitive market offers.

“We believe we can drive electricity prices even lower for Australian households and businesses, if we can agree on a long-term energy policy to encourage timely investment in new supply to replace the nation’s ageing power stations,” Mr Briskin said.

“We encourage the industry and governments at all levels to stay the course and continue to progress the national energy guarantee (NEG).”

In 2017, Origin had among the lowest retail standing electricity prices and was the only retailer to announce it would freeze base tariffs for its customers in financial hardship.

Origin also introduced a special low-priced offer for concession customers in South Australia and delivered automatic savings for non-discounted and concession customers in Victoria.

Energy Consumers Australia CEO Rosemary Sinclair said the announcement was good news for some but the decision not to provide price relief for consumers in NSW or the ACT did not meet the expectations of consumers in those markets.

“There’s some good news here for people in Queensland and South Australia, but very unfortunately, no price relief for households and small businesses in New South Wales or the ACT,” Ms Sinclair said.

“With the costs of electricity generation and managing the poles and wires falling, consumers are expecting to see prices coming back down to more normal levels having seen around 30 per cent increases in the past two years.

“The ACCC review of electricity prices is due this month and they’ve already said there is a severe electricity affordability problem which is putting Australian businesses and consumers under unacceptable pressure.”

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The story of Flow Power begins more than two decades ago, way back when the country was facing deregulation of the electricity market in 1994.

It was at this time Matthew van der Linden founded energy management business, Utilacor.

Utilacor has been heavily involved in the industry since deregulation, with a goal to try and save customers as much money as possible.

“It was a really good time to get involved. I started out looking for ways to save money, and what we actually started to do through Utilacor was we put a few customers onto wholesale as a way to save money in those earlier years,” Matthew explains.

“At some point I decided if I really wanted to make this a big thing I would need to start a retailer of our own.”

So, eight years ago, Matthew introduced Flow Power to the market.

In a major difference to more traditional retailers, Flow Power operates by completely cutting out the “middle man” in a bid to ensure consumers are getting the absolute best deal possible.

“You’ve got customers, retailers and generators; traditionally, customers buy from a traditional retailer and that retailer usually sells fixed-price energy to the customer,” Matthew explains.

“Now the retailer would get this energy from the wholesale electricity market, so they go and buy directly from generators; they go and buy from the derivative or futures exchange, like a financial market; they go and build their own generators; and they go and build large-scale renewable energy generation.

“Our goal is to make available all the same tools that a typical retailer uses, directly to customers.

“So, although we are a retailer, our aim is to cut out what we might call the traditional retailer and give all those tools directly to the consumer to use to buy their energy.

“Through doing that, you can save an awful lot of money – the customer knows what they are paying and through doing that, they can get a very long way ahead.

“It’s basically trying to cut out the middle man and provide all the same tools to customers.”

The company is doing this with a helping hand from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) through the $37.5 million demand response initiative, launched in October.

Through the initiative, ARENA and AEMO awarded funding to 10 pilot projects that will deliver 200MW of capacity by 2020.

Flow Power was awarded $2.6 million to rollout its kWatch Intelligent Controller technology.

The controller has been designed and manufactured by Flow Power and provides live data feeds about energy use.

The kWatch units will be rolled out across 95 commercial and industrial customers sites in the next three years.

Matthew says demand response is “bread and butter” for Flow Power.

“It’s what we do,” he says.

“One of our goals is to change the way people look at energy, rather than it just be a contract they sign every two or three years, and turn it into something that becomes part of their day-to-day business and something they get involved with.

“I think demand response is essential and what’s been missing in the broader debate of what’s wrong with the market.

“Obviously we’ve got this demand response stuff going on in the background, and there’s a lot of effort going into it, but right now you would argue that its not having a big impact on the market as of today.

“Our hope would be in 12 months it does have a big impact, but the key thing to understand it is actually essential.

“The electricity market is extremely dynamic and the fact that we don’t have demand response in the market actually makes no logical sense.”

Matthew says the best way he can describe the current situation in the energy market is by comparing it to the road network.

“Most people in the market just use power whenever they want to, and it was constructed to allow that to occur,” he says.

“If you built a road network that worked like our electricity market then you could literally hop on a road at any time of day, get your own lane and drive into the city without any delays whatsoever.

“That’s how the electricity market has been designed, but it’s actually more dynamic than the road network.

“Everyone knows if you get on the road at 9 o’clock and it clogs up, well, the electricity network has been designed so it never clogs up – but it does. That’s why the price of power has gone through the roof because it is that dynamic.

“The idea of making customers respond to the market more, it’s actually absolutely critical to the future of the market.”

While battery storage technologies will help “without a doubt”, Matthew says they are still quite expensive and customers have started looking for alternatives.

“Demand response, or connecting customers to wholesale prices, isn’t that expensive to do and it reduces their costs quite significantly,” he says.

“The reality is, customers are actually very motivated to try and find solutions, and customers always have.

“And that’s probably another thing that the market misses. There has been enormous amount of money spent on the market to date on energy management.

“People have always implemented energy management – but they’ve never implemented energy management in response to shortfall generation, or price in the market.

“They have always implemented energy management for other reasons that actually aren’t the true reasons for the high prices in the market.

“So, going forward, if you can connect customers to the underlying problems in the market, imagine investing in all that energy management for the right reason – it would actually reduce the load on the market and make a significant difference to the market.”

This is why it is so important for Matthew, through Flow Power, to connect customers to wholesale energy prices.

Flow Power has recently signed Australia’s first ever large-scale renewable corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Ararat Wind Farm, in south-west Victoria.

The 240MW wind farm, the third largest in Australia, is now operating at full capacity and Flow Power signed a landmark deal to secure 50MW of that output.

This deal puts Flow Power in a position to connect its customers directly to generation sources.

“It’s a really good example of how providing customers with direct access to the same things that traditional retailers have access to, can provide huge savings,” Matthew boasts.

“Customers can come to us and buy a chunk of that power and get the price that is something close to the cost-price of that energy, which is very important.

“We’re connecting customers directly to the generation, and by doing that with a variable generator, which is what we have with the wind farm, its almost the perfect scenario.

“Those customers connecting to that variable generation will respond to that generation and will probably change their behaviours over time. So, some of our biggest customers will actually turn their pumps off when the wind doesn’t blow, which is exactly what the market needs.”

Flow Power is the first Australian retailer to offer this kind of direct connection to clients, but Matthew expects this to change soon.

“I believe we’re the first, but I don’t believe we’ll be the first for that long,” he says.

“Hopefully, through the effects we have on the market, other retailers will follow, because its logical and customers will move rapidly to pick it up and they want to compete, they’ll have to.

“Although this first deal isn’t huge – we would like to take this to 500MW or 2000MW over the coming years – we believe customers will take it up very rapidly in this current market, and our aim is to scale this out and make this the normal, the standard.

“The Ararat wind farm is still quite young in its evolution, but the level of interest we got well exceeded our supply. It is interesting times for us here as we try and push forward.

“We are very ambitiously trying to educate the market on alternatives and that’s probably our biggest struggle is education in terms of just letting people know there is another way.”

With demand response growing on the horizon and the industry in the midst of a significant revolution, where does Matthew see the future of the energy industry?

“This is a very dynamic market that doesn’t behave dynamically, and that’s because 90 per cent of the market is on these fixed retail contracts, so I see it dramatically changing.

“It is probably one of those few industries where a true revolution can occur.

“I see consumers becoming a lot more involved with how they use their power, and it becoming a lot more dynamic, a lot more integrated.

“The idea that customers can come in and own a power plant, or own a chunk of the Ararat wind farm, put solar panels on their roof or install their own battery – is all now entirely feasible, and I think those sorts of things will dramatically change.”

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The latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Customer Satisfaction-Electricity Providers Report and Customer Satisfaction-Gas Providers Report, which survey more than 10,000 electricity and gas consumers, has revealed customers are happier with smaller electricity and gas retailers.

The market average satisfaction with electricity retailers is currently 63.4 per cent and for gas it is 65 per cent, with the major players in both markets being below average.

Overall satisfaction with electricity retailers has fallen over the last four years by 1.8 per cent points to 63.4 per cent, but not all providers have shown declines.

The current satisfaction leader among the ten largest electricity retailers is Red Energy with 74.5 per cent (an increase of 6.4 per cent points since 2013), followed by Simply Energy on 71.4 per cent (up 9.1 per cent) and Lumo Energy 70.9 per cent (up 6.9 per cent).

The two largest electricity retailers have below average satisfaction, with Origin Energy on 62.3 per cent and AGL 61.3 per cent, and both are currently below their 2013 satisfaction levels.

Satisfaction with gas retailers has improved by 1.6 per cent points since 2013 to 65.0 per cent, with the greatest gains from Simply Energy (up 14.6 per cent to 73.8 per cent), Lumo Energy (up 9.4 per cent to 74.6 per cent and now the market leader), Kleenheat (up 9.3 per cent to 74.4 per cent) and Red Energy (up 9 per cent to 74.4 per cent).

Among the four largest gas retailers, Alinta, Origin and Energy Australia showed some improvement in satisfaction since 2013 but all four currently remain below the industry average.

“The Australian Government recently met with major energy retailers to emphasise that they wanted them to ensure that retailers would be offering all of their customers the best deal they could,” Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris said.

“A good measure of how well this objective is being met is to monitor customer satisfaction levels across each of the major players to understand overall trends and competitors rankings.

“There has been very little change over the last four years in the overall level of satisfaction with gas and electric retailers but the smaller providers in both markets have shown that bigger improvements are possible and as a result they have become clear leaders.

“Improving overall satisfaction in the near future is likely to present a problem, given the rapidly rising energy prices and the potential for power shortages but satisfaction can still be measured against competitors.

“It is ultimately relative performance and perceptions that will play a major part in customer acquisition and retention.”

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Mojo Power is the electricity retailer that wants customers to use less energy, and its eyes are firmly set on disrupting the domestic market.

In a country where end-users have become deeply cynical about their energy providers and ‘bill shock’ has its own hashtag, it should come as no surprise an unorthodox startup has been welcomed with open arms.

Mojo’s unprecedented billing model decouples customer energy consumption levels and profits, leading to a no markup approach to electricity sales. Instead of charging per kilowatt, Mojo sells electricity at cost and profits from subscription fees.

It is early days for the brand. Nonetheless, energy comparison websites are already praising the model and it seems to be only a matter of time until Mojo becomes a strong second-tier retail competitor along the East Coast.

The idea was conceived after an energy executive and a finance specialist crossed paths at Sungevity, a US solar electricity company. The pair – ex Australian Power and Gas (APG) head James Myatt and former Publishing and Broadcasting Limited investment analyst Darren Miller – tackled the challenges of Australia’s new energy future from all angles. After locking themselves away for several months, James and Darren emerged with Mojo Power in late 2015, and haven’t looked back since.

Foreseeing the effect solar, battery and storage technology is going to put on energy businesses throughout next decade, Darren says retail is the space to be in.

“Retailers hold the key relationship with consumers, and it’s consumers who are going to give rocket fuel to the evolution of the energy landscape,” he says.

While the rest of the energy sector faces huge challenges in dealing with declining grid consumption, Mojo is essentially looking at a risk-free future. Darren and James aren’t afraid of solar, batteries and electronic vehicles entering the market; in fact, their success depends on it.

“We set up Mojo because of this changing environment. Without disruptions to the market it would be business as usual, and we wouldn’t have a business case. But now people are looking for a change, and for a solution to a growing problem: the increasing cost of electricity,” Darren says.

“People are looking around and asking, ‘who do I trust and where do I go?’ and we’re positioning Mojo as the answer.”

For a fixed monthly fee, customers are given access to hedged wholesale power prices, which undercut rival retailers’ standing tariffs by up to 30 per cent. It’s “the Costco of power” as backer, Former Foxtel executive Kim Williams, said.

Mojo offers three EnergyPass options: The Basic EnergyPass package ($30 per month) allows customers to access to electricity usage data from up to 48 hours ago; the Plus+ EnergyPass ($40 per month) gives customer access to live energy usage information; and the Premium EnergyPass ($50 per month) offers the above features, as well as unlimited phone support in business hours. Signing up to the Plus+ or Premium packages also comes with a smart meter upgrade.

Originally, Darren thought the model would only make financial sense for the top 30-40 per cent of households – families in the suburbs with a swimming pool and air-conditioning. But feedback so far reveals the rest of the market is interested as well.

“We started off thinking our model would be a bit niche, but we’re receiving really positive feedback from customers in apartments and people with below-average consumption who don’t like the uncertainty associated with a volatile market,” Darren says, acknowledging media coverage of rising electricity prices is good for business.

“It takes a few minutes to explain the premise of the business, because most people haven’t ever thought about energy in this way before. But when they understand it, it’s like a light bulb going off – pardon the pun.”

Indeed, from a retail perspective, the energy industry hasn’t had a lot of innovation in a long time. With more markets deregulated than ever before, the opportunity is there. But as Darren says, the entrenched retail models of the big three incumbent retailers don’t lend themselves to radical changes.

“Any innovation in the market is going to come from start-ups: companies like us that approach the industry with an entirely new perspective,” he says.

“The old, government-type model, where prices are built into kilowatt usage, with incentives that can be given and taken away, is all very confusing for customers. We thought we could change this by opening up and becoming more transparent in the way bills are charged and how energy is used.”

Smart technology is a key aspect of Mojo’s business strategy. The company installs and is responsible for its high-tech own smart meters that allow customers to see their electricity usage in real time and respond accordingly, rather than waiting anxiously for a quarterly bill.

“The future of energy is data, analytics and software. To make the most of smart devices, and all the benefits solar and batteries offer, you need full-time access to the home,” Darren says.

“The smart meter is this gateway, allowing us to collect accurate and relevant data.”

The fact Mojo doesn’t discriminate against solar customers is interesting in its own right. For the most part, Australian electricity retailers are not the friends of solar-powered homes. In fact, solar homes are precluded from signing up to some retailers’ best discounts. But because it is in Mojo’s financial interests for customers to save money, the company actually encourages customers to switch to solar.

While Mojo doesn’t promise higher solar feed-in rates, the company does come onside with solar homeowners, giving them the insights and guidance they need to get the most out of the solar they generate. This could potentially help customers save more money in total than by upping their feed-in rate.

As Kim Williams told The Sydney Morning Herald, “it’s about being a partner with the consumer rather than just wanting consumers to chew up more and more power”. The former News Corp Australia boss is one of the high net worth individuals that have invested in Mojo, which also received $5 million from Southern Cross Renewable Energy Fund, backed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and Softbank China Venture Capital.

In a few years time, Darren hopes to have tens of thousands of customers across Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales as a minimum, with at least half of these owning Mojo smart meters.

“We’re looking at a future of solar, storage, demand response and energy efficiency, where our customers have the technology to reduce their energy bills to a level that is below what any other retailer can provide,” he says.

With 20 per cent of Australian households installing solar panels on their roofs, a business that thrives on the uptake of disruptive technologies certainly seems poised for success. For now, at least, it seems playing fair is one way to get noticed.

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The community-based and ASX-listed retailer will mark its full launch in early July.

Mr Harris said Enova is preparing a call for expressions of interest from the community and other organisations to build local renewable generation facilities in the region

“We want to support the development of local renewable energy and we will work with new initiatives to make this happen”, he said.

Following a successful capital raise last year, Enova Energy – also a supplier of energy technology solutions – is close to taking on its first customers. An invitation to shareholders to prepare to switch their energy supply to Enova is currently underway.

The company has a 100 per cent sign-up rate on the number of people it had approached, according to Mr Harris.

“We are particularly heartened by the number of people who have chosen our unique plan, Enova Renewable Development Initiative,” he said.

Enova will be offering a range of energy plans including genuine accredited GreenPower options, subsidised by Enova and generous rates for the solar you generate.

Offices, systems, communications and new website are also being finalised as new team members, energy consultants and coaches are finalising their training.

Around 1100 people invested in the Enova IPO, 75 per cent of them from the Northern NSW community.

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