It seems there are very few certainties in life, but death, taxes and the ever increasing cost of power, including the most recent price hikes on July 1rst. According to Choice magazine, increases in pricing will vary between states and hit homes in South Australia the hardest, followed closely by those in NSW, Queensland and the ACT. Energy Australia customers in South Australia will face annual increases of $390 on average – a jump of 19.9%, followed closely by those in New South Wales with average annual hikes of $319.
With the prices set to continue to raise later this year, it is time for a change. A lack of innovation and disregard for customer needs has created an opportunity in the market for the likes of Apple, Google and even Telstra, Energy Consumers Australia CEO Rosemary Sinclair said, according to News.com.au.
Ms Sinclair said Apple, Google, Telstra and others had “identified that there is friction in the market and that they can start addressing consumers’ needs”.
“They come in with innovation that is centred around consumers’ needs, and that is the major thing they do that changes the culture of the entire industry,” Ms Sinclair said.
Recently Apple has created its own energy company Apple Engery LLC. The company was created with the intention to sell excess electricity generated by its solar farms in Cupertino and Nevada, with plans to sell electricity across the whole of the US.
To add to this another possible player is tech giant Google, who has recently purchased Nest, a home energy monitoring system.
The Australian market is ripe for innovation with all of the major energy players out of touch with consumer needs and no moves to innovate or create services that serve the customer better.
Other contenders for the Australian energy provider shake up are Telstra and smaller ventures such as Mojo Power and Pooled Energy. Mojo recently began selling NSW consumers a monthly “EnergyPass” that gives access to wholesale electricity rates while Pooled targets pool owners with a bundled deal of maintenance, chemicals and power.
With consumer dissatisfaction and prices high, the Australian energy market is ready for a big shake up. It will be an interesting space to watch as more businesses enter the race for the consumer’s power dollar.
