Dodo, a well known broadband and telecoms provider, has expanded into the residential energy market with its launch last week of a new business called Dodo Power & Gas. Whilst Dodo has obtained electricity retailing licences in Victoria, NSW, ACT, Queensland and South Australia it has launched only in the Victorian market with a range of electricity plans.
Dodo appears to be drawing on its experience from the ISP and mobile markets by offering consumers a choice of four plans with either zero, 12, 24 or 36 month contracts – the longer the contract the higher the discount.
We anticipate that Dodo will initially target their ISP and mobile user bases with offers to encourage them to also switch their electricity supply to Dodo. Dodo is pitching the bundle or single bill concept, offering a combined monthly bill encompassing all home services purchased by a user.
Dodo’s plans to launch into gas retailing and into other states are not known at this stage but will be entirely dependent upon their success in negotiating wholesale supply agreements, something that many other small energy suppliers have struggled with.
Victoria Electricity, the largest of the second tier electricity retailers, which also marketed itself as SA Electricity, Queensland Electricity and NSW Electricity in each respective state, has recently given itself a major refresh and rebranded itself as Lumo Energy.
Lumo is an acronym in particle physics for “lowest unoccupied molecular orbital” – if you really want to know more you can start by looking at wikipedia.
Lumo seems like a fresh new brand – the energy market definitely needs a facelift – and seems to be taking a few cues from the Virgin marketing handbook. It will be interesting to see whether the company’s culture will also change to be more customer centric in line with its new brand values.
Lumo Energy is offering three energy plans – Options, Advantage and Life (10% or 100% green power) – to new customers. These will be added shortly to our search results.
Lumo Energy is owned by NZ company Infratil.
Red Energy, an energy supplier owned by Snowy Hydro, has recently launched some new electricity rates and plans for NSW residents who live in Sydney’s Greater West, the Southern Highlands and Illawarra region (Integral Energy’s network area).
Red Energy is offering its Fixed Term Saver electricity plan on a 2 year contract with a 5 per cent prompt payment discount. A fully-accredited 100 per cent GreenPower option is also available at additional cost.
Red Energy offers 100% renewable energy on its plans – for every unit of electricity you consume Snowy Hydro will generate one unit of electricity from a renewable source.
Go to the Switchwise homepage to start your electricity comparison to see how Red Energy’s new plans compare to your existing power company.
