Local co-op unveils new power deal

12/9/2019

By Susan Davies

THE ENERGY Innovation Co-operative has announced a new retail electricity offer to benefit the Bass Coast and South Gippsland communities.

In 2018 the Co-op joined with similar groups to start the move towards a community-owned electricity retailer in Victoria. The aim is to keep electricity prices as low as possible, to make pricing as transparent as possible, to return benefits to the local community, and to help fund community owned renewable energy generation.

The first step is a partnership with a commercial retailer. “Co-operative Power” is now taking customers. Local householders and businesses are invited to visit the Energy Innovation Co-op website and click on the Co-operative Power link to check out the new power offer.

The more customers who come through this offer, the quicker we can get to full community ownership. More customers means more market power to reduce prices, plus more benefits delivered back to the community.

Phillip Island households can also sign up for a free “Powerpal” electricity usage monitor, which will enable them to instantaneously check their household power usage via a smart-phone app. We hope this offer will extend beyond the Island soon.

We continue to encourage all householders and businesses to use the Victorian government’s Energy Compare website to check whether they can get a better deal on their power bills.

We’re also happy to run sessions for community groups to help members understand their power bills.

For more information, contact Susan Davies on 5657 3108.

2 Comments

Nathan

14/9/2019 10:58:20 am

I compared this offer with our current electricity and with the solar fees of 12c it doesn’t make sense as we are receive 66c for now. But putting that 66c Govt offer aside (as it will eventually come to an end), the rates still don’t work out. I so wanted it to! Perhaps it will in future. Here’s hoping as it’s a great idea!
We save a little for the first 11 Wh but that’s hardly much electricity at all. After that our current electricity rate is cheaper.
Their daily rate is slightly cheaper, very slight but then when we add the monthly co op membership fee of 3 months to our bill it’s more expensive.
I’m encouraging people to do their sums on this one.
I’m disappointed. Perhaps it will be more competitive in the future?
It’s a great idea but no cigar yet.

Susan Davies link

14/9/2019 05:58:58 pm

I agree, the charges in this current offer are not going to be cheaper for some people. For low energy use households it is more likely to be. And for me, it is still an issue that not all the power comes from renewables. However, as we explain on our website https://eico-op.org.au, this is a first step towards a community owned retailer. We can only start the next step, negotiating an even better price, once we have a significant number of (1000?2000?) customers signed up via Co-operative Power. So we do need enough people to work with us, and take up this first offer........We do want to take that next step. PS the monthly "Membership fee" is not a co-operative monthly fee. It is the retailer's charge, which looks different than most retailers. But added to the reduced daily supply charge, it works out as almost equivalent to most retailers. This is a work in progress. I hope you will support it if you can. Happy to discuss further, and I'll know more when I get my first bill from them. Susan

Local co-op unveils new power deal

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