Challenge
Deregulation of the energy sector in Australia has attracted many new entrants, at current count there are over 25 electricity retailers. The government’s objective in deregulating the industry was to introduce competition and as a result of the competition the theory was that customer’s would benefit from a more efficient industry and pay less for their energy needs. Instead, we have seen the price of electricity more than double in the last 10 years and the energy industry emulating the complicated pricing plans so common in telecommunications in years gone past.
Solution
Develop a service that allows consumers and businesses to have their power bills compared based on their actual usage so that the current pricing complexity is replaced with transparency. At the moment customers often have to spend 20-30 minutes on the phone in order to sign up to a new deal. The new service was designed to remove this friction and allow a customer to switch retailers in a matter of minutes.
Outcome
Creation of Australia’s first online website that created transparency and compared the entire market using a customer’s actual usage pattern and the actual prices they paid.