Australian consumer energy pioneers join forces to meet “full ecosystem of electrification needs”

Two Australian companies that set out on two separate consumer-driven missions to fast-track the uptake of renewables have joined forces, after the acquisition of leading solar and battery comparison service, Solar Choice, by upstart renewable energy retailer, Flow Power.

The deal, backed by Canadian pension fund OPTrust, mirrors last year’s acquisition of fellow comparison service, Solar Quotes, by Origin Energy, as part of the evolving consumer energy focus that even the Big Three gentailers have been compelled to embrace.

In this case, the new partnership gives Flow’s retail electricity customers easy access to Solar Choice’s deep well of knowledge on consumer energy resources, and allows them to compare quotes from Solar Choice’s list of “trusted installers.”

Solar Choice, meanwhile, will continue to operate as an independent comparison and tendering service for solar, battery and electrification solutions, while giving its customers “streamlined access” to Flow’s solar and battery-focused retail plans.

Flow had its start in energy retailing in 2009 with a focus on providing renewables-based supply deals to commercial and industrial customers, with energy source from offtake agreements and – more recently – Flow’s own solar and battery projects.

More recently, the company has been expanding into the highly competitive residential retail electricity market, with the goal of enabling households to actively participate in the energy transition.

Flow last year launched what it described as Australia’s first “technology integrated” electricity plan, combining a net 100% renewable power supply at a fixed cost, with the potential to earn bill discounts by matching home solar consumption, storage and export with the needs of the wholesale market.

It includes an app that tells customers when energy prices are up or down, and allows them to remotely control devices connected to a Flow-supplied smart plug, and an Energy Forecast feature that shows when the price of energy will drop in days ahead, for planning around load-intensive activities like EV charging.

At the time, Flow Power founder and CEO Matthew van der Linden said the “Flow Home” product was designed around giving consumers the opportunity to “massively step up how [they] engage with energy – and to massively benefit as well.”

In a statement on Monday, van der Linden said the partnership with Solar Choice aligns closely with this mission.

“This partnership is about empowering more households and businesses to electrify with confidence, and then to keep extracting value from their systems over time through retail plans that respond to real market signals,” he said.

“Solar Choice has played a unique and trusted role in Australia’s rooftop solar and battery market for nearly two decades. Partnering with them allows us to offer customers an even stronger pathway from asset selection and installation through to smarter energy retailing.”

Solar Choice founder and outgoing chairman Angus Gemmell says the two companies’ combined 47 years of pioneering the clean energy transition promises “an inspired future” of enabling the “full ecosystem of electrification needs” of Australian homes and businesses. 

Gemmell says Solar Choice has had a hand in the consumer energy journey one in every 10 solar homes across Australia since it was first founded in 2008, when rooftop solar was still the preserve of early adopters.

“There’s a spot on the sand just north of the Manly beach flags where, in July 2008 looking out across nearby rooftops, the idea first germinated of enabling Australian homes and businesses to more readily go solar,” Gemmell told Renew Economy on Monday. 

“The idea was to build a market transparency platform to facilitate impartial choices for consumers, and through that drive large volumes of work for a network of the nation’s most reliable installers. 

“Alongside innovative tech solutions which Solar Choice has patented, it takes many years building a strong reputation for impartiality so that hundreds of quality installers trust the model in order to upload details of their products, price and warranty information into Solar Choice’s central database,” Gemmell says.

“With CEO Jeff Sykes’s acumen and operational leadership over the last seven years, combined with Flow Power’s excellent standing as the nation’s leading clean energy retailer, Solar Choice’s trajectory continues to uplift and thrive.”

Sykes says Flow’s recognition and respect for Solar Choice’s “independent, impartial role” in the solar and battery market has been a crucial driver of the new partnership.

“Our installer partners and customers can be confident that nothing about that independence will change. This partnership gives us the backing to scale our impact and help accelerate Australia’s energy transition in a meaningful way.”

Gemmell says the solar farm projects that he has originated remain separate from this acquisition, including an ongoing partnership as co-developer with Genex for the 2 gigawatt Bulli Creek Clean Energy Park.

“It’s exciting to see Solar Choice’s future continue to unfold with the same innovative dynamism with which it started,” he adds.

“When swimming in the surf at that spot in Manly …it’s wonderful to look back at those same rooftops from 17 years ago, nearly all of which are now humming with solar.”

Solar Choice is an advertiser with Renew Economy.

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