Commercial renewable energy retailer Flow Power is branching into the residential market with what it describes as Australia’s first “technology integrated” electricity plan – and a mission to “massively step up” how consumers engage with energy.
Starting out in Victoria, but with plans to expand to other states soon, Flow Home offers customers a net 100 per cent renewable supply of electricity at a fixed cost, but with the potential to earn bill discounts by matching consumption, storage and export of energy to what is going on in the wholesale market.
On the technology side, Flow Home customers will get a suite of smart energy hardware to help them monitor and control their consumption and devices using real-time data.
A Flow Power app can then tell customers when energy prices are up or down, and allow them to remotely control devices connected to the smart plug. An Energy Forecast feature also shows when the price of energy will drop over the days ahead, for planning around more load-intensive activities like EV charging.
“Our residential plan is all designed around … really giving the opportunity to massively step up how consumers engage with energy – and to massively benefit as well,” says Flow Power founder and CEO Matthew van der Linden.
“We’ve set it up so that a typical customer …[starts] with a price efficiency adjustment of zero and then, if they adjust from that … and improve their outcomes, they’ll start to save money. They’ll get a credit on their bill.
“Our app tries to make that very simple, where it just literally just says, you know, at the moment, if you keep doing what you’re doing, you might save about 10 bucks today.”
This is not entirely new – there are other retailers with apps that offer tips on how to cut energy costs and when to use appliances.
But van der Linden says Flow’s offering has a few unique features – including the transparent sharing of real time data, which puts consumers in touch with what’s happening on the market while also familiarising them with the energy loads in their house.
Flow Home also seeks to put the power of price efficient energy use in the hands of the consumer, rather than assume control for them, such as is the case with various virtual power plant (VPP) offerings.
“The difference with Flow Home … is that it is very much focused on a permanent behavioral change,” he tells One Step Off The Grid.
“Energy is one of the most dynamic commodities in the world. …There is nothing else like it. You can do something and affect your costs right now, and everything you do right now affects the grid.
“So my view is that live data is a critical part of that and I do see consumers – a significant proportion of consumers … will engage with it. And it’s very tangible engagement too. …It’s tens of dollars and hundreds of dollars a month if you engage well.
“We’re not focused on, you know …there’s this huge opportunity if you can manage your load around volatility in the market. We know that. But there’s also, I think, a bigger opportunity if you just change some simple behaviors every day.
“Price efficient use is crucial; consumers should have the flexibility to choose what they pay for energy. Instead of being locked into a fixed rate, they should have the option to take advantage of lower prices when available and avoid higher costs when possible,” he says.
“It’s similar to shopping: you purchase more when prices are low and only buy what you need when they’re high. Energy works in much the same way – use more when electricity is cheaper and only use what you need when prices rise.”
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.
In the renewables-forward town of Newstead, Flow recently installed a 3MW solar farm and 5 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery, and it owns another DC-coupled solar-battery project in Berri, South Australia, which has a 5.8 MW solar farm coupled with a 6.7 MWh battery, switched on last year.
Thanks to these PPAs and renewable energy assets, Flow Home will also offer customers a new standard in “renewable energy additionality,” giving customers a connection to the specific generators behind their supply.
“So every time you sign up, it’s net 100% renewable, and it’s directly tied to a project. So it’s another very deliberate thing we’ve done where, essentially, you know your 4 megawatt-hours or whatever you’re using a year will be reserved from that project until it’s fully sold.”
Van der Linden says the company’s new residential retail offering currently has between 250-350 customers in Victoria, which it has been working with ahead of the official launch.
Flow says that since July 2023, more than 60% of monthly invoices issued to Flow Home trial customers have included a reduction to the base energy rate due to price efficiency.
For electric vehicle drivers, early customer data has revealed savings of as much as 40% on their base rate by charging at the right times.
From here, the goal is to get to 2,000 households in Victoria by the end of the year and start working to move into other states.
“This is the next phase,” van der Linden says. “We need to really get more feedback on the product … It’s not perfect yet, but we are working very hard to get it as as polished as we can.”
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
