The newly elected O’Farrell Government has announced its intention to hold a judicial inquiry into the controversial $5 billion NSW electricity privatisation programme. Mr O’Farrell intends to start the inquiry within one month of taking office and wants the judicial panel to examine whether or not the asset sale conducted by the previous Labor Government was flawed and/or unlawful.
According to newspaper reports, Mr O’Farrell has not ruled out the possibility of reversing the sales of these retail assets despite the fact that such a decision would likely result in the Government having to cough up hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to TRUenergy and Origin Energy. In addition it would likely throw the energy market into chaos not to mention harm the chances of any future asset privatisations in the Australian market.
On 1st March 2011 the sale of Energy Australia’s retail business to TRUenergy and the sale of Integral Energy’s and Country Energy’s retail businesses to Origin Energy was completed. Origin Energy paid $3 billion for these retail assets as well as the electricity trading rights for Eraring Energy. TRUenergy paid $2 billion for EnergyAustralia and the trading rights for Delta West, as well as access to three power station development sites.
Following the recent sale of the three NSW-Government-owned electricity retailers to Origin Energy (which bought Integral Energy and Country Energy) and TRUenergy (which bought Energy Australia), competition for NSW customers is finally starting to heat up.
Red Energy, the Snowy Hydro-owned electricity retailer which launched into NSW in June last year, has introduced a new electricity deal with higher discounts to encourage NSW consumers to switch.
Red Energy’s new electricity plan is called Living Energy Saver – it offers a 7 per cent pay-on-time discount on electricity usage and supply/service charges. This would represent a saving of approximately $105 per year on a typical $1500 annual household electricity bill. Living Energy Saver is available only on a 2 year contract.
After years of inactivity we expect to see competition in the NSW market really heat up this year so stay tuned for more news on great offers.
Go to the Switchwise homepage to start a comparison to see how Red Energy’s new Living Energy Saver compares to your current power company.
AGL has kicked-off a new integrated marketing campaign to make NSW consumers aware of their right to choose their electricity and gas retailer and of the savings that can be made by switching.
AGL believes it is much more cost-effective to acquire customers organically and has previously announced it wishes to sign-up 400,000 to 500,000 new customers in NSW by poaching them from Origin Energy and TRUenergy. AGL is now Australia’s second biggest energy retailer following Origin Energy’s addition of 1.65 million customers from its recent acquisition of Integral Energy and Country Energy from the NSW Government.
To support the new advertising campaign, AGL has introduced a new electricity plan called Advantage 7, which offers a 7 per cent standard discount on household electricity usage charges. This would represent a saving of just under $100 per year on a typical $1500 annual household electricity bill. Advantage 7 is available only on a 2 year contract. Customers with natural gas will also be able to benefit from a 5 per cent gas usage discount on top of the 7 per cent electricity usage discount.
It is great news for consumers that competition is heating up in NSW – increased discounting will help to alleviate some of the pain from the electricity price rises over the last couple of years.
Go to the Switchwise homepage to start a comparison to see how AGL’s new Advantage 7 offer compares to your current energy supplier.
You can watch AGL’s new TV commercials here:
