Powershop bought by Shell? Time to move…

[m4rtin]

I’m a Powershop customer in NSW and they’ve been competitive and have solid green credentials. I dislike the packs but put up with it.

Now Shell are buying them I’m thinking to move. Anyone in NSW got any recommendations that are EV and green friendly?

Shell increases stake in Australia’s electricity market with Powershop takeover

Move will ‘turn customers’ stomachs’ after retailer touted its clean energy credentials, critics say

www.theguardian.com

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

I'm currently with Amber Electric. But I'm moving in a few months, and I fully expect I'll switch to ReAmped at that time. I keep putting random addresses in, to see what it'll be. I think it'll be:

Peak $0.2365 /kWh
Shoulder $0.1529 /kWh
Off-Peak $0.1166 /kWh
Supply Charge $1.0450 /day

Most of the time my power prices are 18c/kWh during charging hours & a fair bit more during evenings. Though that's on the Essential grid, and the new place will be on the Jemena grid, so it's not exactly a like-for-like comparison. Either way, this plan is substantially cheaper. And even if I can't get a ToU meter installed, their advance plan is:

Anytime $0.1900 /kWh
Supply Charge $0.7370 /day

Given I'm used to paying about 19c/kWh anyway, this doesn't bother me much.

 

[Hairyman]

I’m also pretty unhappy with the takeover of Powershop Australia. I can’t find a better rate for charging my car at the moment - 6.58c from 0000-0400 hrs.

The other companies offering EV arrangements are Origin and AGL. The plans are not as good and their background not much better than Shell.

I have just moved my gas from Origin to Powershop. It gets 100% offset too.

I spent the early part of the afternoon looking at ReAmped, Diamond, Amber and one other I have forgotten. The price structures are not quite as good for me.

If Powershop moves its rates I’ll certainly be out of there.

If people have other insights I’m all ears

 

[paulp]

Have you looked at energy locals? They are tesla’s vpp partner. Each state and user profile is different but they are by far my cheapest option, but not with the vpp plan.
They only sell renewable power, and are a small business owned by australian’s…for now

 

[Leeroy]

I guess shell have seen the writing on the wall for fossil fuels and are looking to keep gouging some other way. With fuel approaching $2 a litre down my way, it’s only going to improve EV and thus electricity demand.

I’m also with re-amped (Victoria) I get:
0.1866c kw/h 24/7
0.6422c daily supply charge.
They have a 100% green option.
I saw that it had gone up a couple of cents recently, but just checked again and has actually improved slightly over what I get.

 

[m4rtin]

Have you looked at energy locals? They are tesla’s vpp partner. Each state and user profile is different but they are by far my cheapest option, but not with the vpp plan.
They only sell renewable power, and are a small business owned by australian’s…for now

So far they're coming out cheapest but it's tricky comparing apples to apples with all these plans.
This made me laugh, sharp marketing

What We're Doing To Provide Green Energy | Energy Locals

We believe in the science of climate change and that we must do something about it. Here’s how we’re building a greener, sustainable future:

energylocals.com.au

 

[paulp]

You can only compare by creating a full year comparison spreadsheet, as every household has different useage patterns, export quantities etc. A cheap power price is meaningless if you dont buy much but export massively, in which case you need high feed-in-tarif. The energy locals tesla plan for those with a battery has higher rates but no daily charge, so for someone fairly power neutral thats a very good outcome. Then to make it even harder each state is priced differently.

 

[cafz]

Then to make it even harder each state is priced differently.

Not even just state, every DNSP region has different network charges.

 

[scully]

If anyone decides to go with ReAmped, feel free to hit me up for a $50 referral code.

 

[Hairyman]

Have you looked at energy locals? They are tesla’s vpp partner. Each state and user profile is different but they are by far my cheapest option, but not with the vpp plan.
They only sell renewable power, and are a small business owned by australian’s…for now

Thanks. I’ll check them out

 

[Vostok]

I was never impressed with PowerShop. First, whenever I ran their tariffs through my historical usage spreadsheet (I have a quarter of a million rows of 5-minute data) they came in the bottom half of the pack cost-wise for my usage patterns.

But what irritated me most is the way that, when I last looked at them in detail in 2019, they weren’t super clear that they only carbon-offset their electricity purchases from the generators (which included coal and gas-fired gens). They were not 100% GreenPower suppliers by default. If you wanted 100% GreenPower, you had to pay a kWh surcharge, like with all other retailers - and their surcharge was actually higher than that offered by the big retailers.

People might have assumed they were buying 100% GreenPower from PowerShop when they were merely buying carbon-offset dirty power.

Carbon-offsetting should be the last resort when there is no other way to abate emissions. That is not the case with electricity generation, since zero-emission generation options exist.

To me, buying 100% GreenPower is an order of magnitude more important than the retailer you buy it from. I buy mine from Origin because they offer the best deal for my usage pattern, even though according to GreenPeace, Origin is something approximating the devil reincarnate.

 

[moa999]

And note that as part of the Shell purchase, their renewable assets are being sold to a third party.

 

[m4rtin]

And note that as part of the Shell purchase, their renewable assets are being sold to a third party.

Source please, would like to read this.

 

[paulp]

I was never impressed with PowerShop. First, whenever I ran their tariffs through my historical usage spreadsheet (I have a quarter of a million rows of 5-minute data) they came in the bottom half of the pack cost-wise for my usage patterns.

But what irritated me most is the way that, when I last looked at them in detail in 2019, they weren’t super clear that they only carbon-offset their electricity purchases from the generators (which included coal and gas-fired gens). They were not 100% GreenPower suppliers by default. If you wanted 100% GreenPower, you had to pay a kWh surcharge, like with all other retailers - and their surcharge was actually higher than that offered by the big retailers.

People might have assumed they were buying 100% GreenPower from PowerShop when they were merely buying carbon-offset dirty power.

Carbon-offsetting should be the last resort when there is no other way to abate emissions. That is not the case with electricity generation, since zero-emission generation options exist.

To me, buying 100% GreenPower is an order of magnitude more important than the retailer you buy it from. I buy mine from Origin because they offer the best deal for my usage pattern, even though according to GreenPeace, Origin is something approximating the devil reincarnate.

In light of that I’d like to correct my comment about energy locals. They carbon offset all power that they cannot get as renewable during the “transition to renewable”. You can get the guaranteed 100% renewables by paying a small amount more, which in my case is well below the equivalent Origin option (I dont do TOU) I only import power in winter so support the equivalent of my solar generation during that time by paying the extra.

 

[paulp]

Source please, would like to read this.

You can read it in ‘the guardian’. Infrastructure capital Group are taking the windfarms and hydro.

 

[moa999]

Source please, would like to read this.

 

[m4rtin]

I'm currently with Amber Electric. But I'm moving in a few months, and I fully expect I'll switch to ReAmped at that time. I keep putting random addresses in, to see what it'll be. I think it'll be:

Peak $0.2365 /kWh
Shoulder $0.1529 /kWh
Off-Peak $0.1166 /kWh
Supply Charge $1.0450 /day

Most of the time my power prices are 18c/kWh during charging hours & a fair bit more during evenings. Though that's on the Essential grid, and the new place will be on the Jemena grid, so it's not exactly a like-for-like comparison. Either way, this plan is substantially cheaper. And even if I can't get a ToU meter installed, their advance plan is:

Anytime $0.1900 /kWh
Supply Charge $0.7370 /day

Given I'm used to paying about 19c/kWh anyway, this doesn't bother me much.

@QBN_PC care to share why you're moving from Amber? Is it the stress of 'surge' pricing?

 

[m4rtin]

Finder have 3 picks but also note the GreenPower option that @Vostok mentions above

Shell buys Powershop: 3 green energy retailers not owned by fuel giants

It's easy to switch from Powershop to another green energy retailer if you don't want your electricity company to be owned by Shell.

www.finder.com.au

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

@QBN_PC care to share why you're moving from Amber? Is it the stress of 'surge' pricing?

I wouldn't call it stress per se. Just utter disgust at the manipulation of the market. Snowy Hydro admitted they wouldn't fire up Colongra til power prices reached their maximum of $15,000/MWh. A few months ago there were days and days of utterly absurd prices while so many gas assets remained idle. And while the compensation from Amber's hedging fees eventually resulted in credits to offset that, meh. Being on an Amber-style pricing scheme is playing a game where the house always wins. I'm kinda over it.

Government-run gas plant sat idle despite soaring electricity prices

Plans to build a new $600 million gas plant are being questioned after Snowy Hydro revealed it isn't making full use of its existing gas plant.

thenewdaily.com.au

Besides, ReAmped on the Jemena grid has cheaper tariffs than a good day on Amber on the Essential grid. I'll just go with ReAmped.

 

[Vostok]

Snowy Hydro admitted they wouldn't fire up Colongra til power prices reached their maximum of $15,000/MWh.

Well there’s market failure right there. This is what happens when government sticks its head in the sand and does not oversee an orderly, managed transition to a renewable grid. When markets are unable to price properly, or conversely, not rewarded for their ability to act before others can, perverse behaviour results.

5-minute settlements in the wholesale market should put an end to most of these shenanigans, but it’s only been operating for 7 weeks.

NEM in for shake-up with five-minute settlement to start

At midnight tonight Australia’s National Electricity Market will undergo a major regulatory change with the introduction of a market reform that has been more than four years in the making.

www.pv-magazine-australia.com