There are currently about 40 retailers operating in Australia’s National Electricity Market. We launched a new one. Why?
This question is especially acute given every electricity retailer in Australia sells exactly the same electricity coming from the exact same grid — probably the world’s most perfect commodity¹. So, why launch a new company to sell the same product as everyone else?
There’s two reasons we believe amber needs to exist in the world — one is about making the future better, and one is about making our lives today better:
We need to make it cheaper for people to use power in sync with when renewables can generate.
The cheapest renewable power sources are by their nature intermittent. We can’t get solar power when the sun isn’t shining, and we can’t get wind power when the wind isn’t blowing. If we want a higher ratio of solar and wind, we need people to use more during the times they can produce.
We should be able to trust we are getting a fair price for electricity.
All electricity retailers are selling access to the same grid electricity, but at wildly different prices. Electricity retail competition should prompt new innovative services and offering. Instead, it has enabled retailers to prey on peoples’ apathy to extort the highest margin they can get away with. If a retailer can offer you a 40% discount, that means some of their other customers are paying 40% too much. If a retailer can afford to pay you $75 to recommend your friend, they should be able to cut your bill by $75 even if you do nothing.
Answering our question...
This is why we’ve launched amber. Big retailers and industrial users have been buying power at wholesale prices (set every 30minutes) for decades, but until now, it has not been an option of everyday households. By passing through wholesale rates, Amber customers can directly benefit when solar and wind are pushing down prices. Amber also provides smart systems and tools to help customers use more energy during these cheap renewable periods.
We’ve just started our journey (we are live in Sydney Metro and South Australia) and nothing makes us happier than helping customers save money - just like Alfred. And if we can do that while also building a little trust again in a broken market, then that’s a good enough reason for us to get out of bed each morning.
¹The reason for this is that by its nature you can’t determine the source of electricity — once electricity is fed into the grid it’s all mixed together — and so every electricity “retailer” is just selling access to that same grid.
