Powershop bought by Shell? Time to move…

[PC__LoadLetter]

Amber has such a vastly different pricing model that yeah, asking them what they charge is kinda impossible. They pass on what the market charges are, plus a monthly fee, plus a bit of hedging insurance.

And they paid out on the hedging insurance twice this year, after that coal plant blew up and seemingly the entire natural gas sector (including Snowy Hydro's gas plant) all refused to bid in at anything below maximum price.

 

[atj777]

Amber has such a vastly different pricing model that yeah, asking them what they charge is kinda impossible. They pass on what the market charges are, plus a monthly fee, plus a bit of hedging insurance.

They could at least publish what the charges were for the last months, weeks or even days so people can at least gauge what it might cost them.

 

[Vostok]

I'm in the same boat as you. None of the others I have looked at even come close to the rates I'm paying with Powershop with the times I purchase power.

EnergyLocals don't even look like they are serious. It was 21c/kWh for all day rate but for ToU it was 22c/kWh for off-peak and shoulder and peak were even higher.

ReAmped was a bit better but still substantially more than I'm paying now, including the almost 4c/kWh premium I'm paying for 100% green energy.

Everyone’s usage pattern is different, so what’s good for me might be no good for someone else. But in my case, these components are the three most significant cost drivers for my grid bill, therefore seeking the minimum charge on each gave me the lowest cost overall:

1. Offpeak tariff
2. Daily connection fee
3. 100% green power charge

 

[atj777]

Everyone’s usage pattern is different, so what’s good for me might be no good for someone else. But in my case, these components are the three most significant cost drivers for my grid bill, therefore seeking the minimum charge on each gave me the lowest cost overall:

1. Offpeak tariff
2. Daily connection fee
3. 100% green power charge

Same for me. With three Powerwalls, If I have to use grid power at all, I can top up them up with a very low off peak tariff but in winter may have to go with a slightly higher tariff for a small amount of power.

With Powershop my rates (c/kWh) are (and this includes 100% green power):
00:00-04:00 10.47 EV Off-Peak
04:00-07:00 17.19 Off-Peak
07:00-13:00 26.53 Shoulder
13:00-20:00 35.85 Peak
20:00-22:00 26.53 Shoulder
22:00-00:00 17.19 Off-Peak

I never use during Peak. I might use a tiny fraction in the evening shoulder and sometimes the ordinary Off-Peak.

 

[atj777]

Oh, I managed to find an "Av. General Usage price" on the Amber site based on my postcode: 20.3 c/kWh. The lowest Average Price per hour was 18.31 c/kWh.

That rules out Amber.

 

[Leeroy]

Same for me. With three Powerwalls, If I have to use grid power at all, I can top up them up with a very low off peak tariff but in winter may have to go with a slightly higher tariff for a small amount of power.

With Powershop my rates (c/kWh) are (and this includes 100% green power):
00:00-04:00 10.47 EV Off-Peak
04:00-07:00 17.19 Off-Peak
07:00-13:00 26.53 Shoulder
13:00-20:00 35.85 Peak
20:00-22:00 26.53 Shoulder
22:00-00:00 17.19 Off-Peak

I never use during Peak. I might use a tiny fraction in the evening shoulder and sometimes the ordinary Off-Peak.

Can I ask how large your solar system is to power 3 PW’s?

 

[cafz]

Oh, I managed to find an "Av. General Usage price" on the Amber site based on my postcode: 20.3 c/kWh. The lowest Average Price per hour was 18.31 c/kWh.

That rules out Amber.

Yeah Amber probably isn't for you if you just want to find the lowest rates for your current usage. To really see the benefit you need to be prepared to monitor the forecast/live pricing and aggressively load-shift to ride the peaks and troughs.

 

[atj777]

Can I ask how large your solar system is to power 3 PW’s?

10kW. It is 10 years old but still functions well and when not hot I get up to 9.8kW into the system.

 

[Nobody Famous]

They could at least publish what the charges were for the last months

You could have a look at Open NEM

OpenNEM: An Open Platform for National Electricity Market Data

An Open Platform for National Electricity Market Data

opennem.org.au

 

[cafz]

You could have a look at Open NEM

You also have to add the per-kW distribution charges set by your DNSP to that.

 

[Hairyman]

Needing to do this kind of stuff really underlines how opaque power pricing can get for offerings like these

 

[RareEarth]

Article on the Powershop purchase. Looks like it is one of a few investments into this sector. Small change for Shell, as one of the people in the article said they have a huge balance sheet and could do a lot of good. If they were serious that is.

Shell gets customer exodus 'surprise' after buying green energy retailer Powershop

Green energy provider Powershop has likely lost at least 5,000 customers since a takeover announcement by Shell a few weeks ago, according to data collected by the ABC from its competitors.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Vostok]

Article on the Powershop purchase.

If they stem the bleeding at 5000 or even 10,000 customers it will be little more than a “flesh wound” to Shell. The article is right - electricity retailers are “sticky” and the reality is most customers don’t churn because “it’s all too hard” (even though it isn’t really).

Utility plans are not called a “lazy tax” for nothing.

 

[paulp]

If they stem the bleeding at 5000 or even 10,000 customers it will be little more than a “flesh wound” to Shell. The article is right - electricity retailers are “sticky” and the reality is most customers don’t churn because “it’s all too hard” (even though it isn’t really).

Utility plans are not called a “lazy tax” for nothing.

But havn’t powershop customers gone there from the big retailers because they dont mind shopping around for what they want? Seems people signing up to smaller retailers are not that sticky