NRMA backs energy upstart as solar offerings extend to “batteries on wheels”

Energy retail upstart Amber Electric has snagged a big-name new investor in its latest round of fundraising, with Australia’s largest mutual organisation, NRMA, joining a $13.4 million Series B extension.

Amber said on Monday that its Series B funding round has been led by existing investors including Commonwealth Bank and Square Peg, and brought in NRMA for the first time.

The retailer says NRMA – whose member services include vehicle roadside assist and insurance – comes on board at a crucial time in Australia integration of electric vehicles into the energy transition.

“NRMA … can clearly see Amber’s value in supporting electric vehicle owners optimise the charging of their cars – and eventually … in helping EVs also be utilised as home batteries,” said Amber co-founder and co-CEO Dan Adams.

NRMA general manager of investments, Ainsley Lee, says Amber’s value proposition “closely aligns” with NRMA’s own ambitions of increasing Australia’s electric vehicle adoptions.

A retailer with a difference

Amber, which launched in late 2017, offers a retail electricity deal where households pay the real-time wholesale price for electricity from the grid, plus a small hedging cost (<1c/kWh) which helps underpin a price guarantee, or cap.

And while that model has been the undoing of a number of smaller retailers since the global energy crisis sent wholesale electricity prices soaring across Australia’s National Electricity Market, Amber seems to be weathering the storm.

That said, the retailer did issue an update in June advising only those households with solar and/or a battery to sign up as new customers, while asking those without to hold off until market conditions stabilised.

Amber’s survival likely comes down to a number of factors, including the backing of deep-pocketed investors, its hedging positions, and its focus on customers with solar and battery storage.

On the latter front, Amber recently introduced its SmartShift technology, which automates when a solar battery – or an EV battery, for that matter – charges and exports power to the grid, to capitalise on the fluctuations of  wholesale energy prices and support demand for cheap renewables.

Money to further develop SmartShift

Amber said on Monday that the Series B Extension would be used to invest in further development of SmartShift, which has been shown to earn customers $40-$100 of energy bill savings in a day, even in this year’s challenging market.

“This year has demonstrated how reliance on coal and gas in our grid has wreaked havoc on Australia’s energy market,” said Adams.

“This has absolutely reinforced the need to transition Australia to 100% renewables as quickly as possible.

“The strides Amber has made in creating the software and services needed to help our battery customers get the most out of their batteries, has been validated by our investors with their continuing support and commitment to Amber’s growth,” Adams said.