“You’re no doubt hearing about a lot about energy right now,” the first blog post about Telstra Energy reads.
Telstra has officially revealed its new energy division, after almost a year of rumours, speculation and licencing. In case your head has been buried in the sand, we’re currently going through one of the most unstable periods for the Australian energy grid, so it’s definitely an interesting time to reveal this division.
“For the first time in history Australia’s energy market operator has suspended the spot market in all regions of the national electricity market. And a number of Australian power companies are asking their customers to switch to another power company as wholesale energy prices rise,” the post continues.
“When it comes to price, it is always important to check whether you are getting good value for money from your power company. This is now more important than ever, given that the market is going through a cycle of price rises and not all power companies are trying to win your business.”
We originally learned about Telstra Energy back in July 2021, when the telco provided a submission to the Australian Energy Regulator. Later that year, Telstra was given the green light to sell electricity and gas in Victoria.
You might have heard that we’re getting into the energy market. Here’s what it means for you, and how you can join us. https://t.co/VbNlDSuD2h
— Telstra News (@Telstra_news) June 22, 2022
Since then, Telstra Energy has been cropping up every now and again, but there was very rarely an official word from Telstra on the topic. Back in February, we covered the story on how Telstra Energy will be using smart metering services from Intellihub.
“An official Telstra Energy website hasn’t been launched yet, but we know it’s coming,” my past self wrote.
Well, said website is here, along with an accompanying explainer.
“It’s a little different to what you might be used to,” the blog post adds.
Telstra has outlined a few arguments for its energy division:
You’ll be on the best plan, always (no loyalty tax!). We’re the only Australian energy retailer that has committed to never charging you a loyalty tax. We won’t rip off our loyal customers to entice new ones with cheaper deals. Because ultimately, it’s loyal customers who pay for these sorts of promotions. That’s just not OK.
100% carbon-neutral power. We’ll offset the carbon emissions from your energy use at no extra cost. This is not an add-on – you won’t need to check a box and pay extra to offset your emissions like you would for services with other providers.
Points to put towards your bill. With Telstra Plus you’ll earn points just for paying a bill you were paying anyway. For every $1 you spend paying your bill, we’ll give you 10 points to redeem as discounts on devices and accessories.
Tools to manage your energy consumption. Through our My Telstra app you’ll get data to manage your daily energy usage when you have a smart meter. You can see a mockup of what it might look like at the top of this piece. With our Clean Energy Tracker you’ll be able to see how much renewable energy is in the grid throughout the day so you can make informed decisions about your energy use.
An Australian-based support team. We have a dedicated energy service team to take your calls and you can chat with them via the My Telstra app if that’s more convenient for you.
How these points shape into costs and perks, we’ll need to find out. Telstra as an NBN and phone plan provider is quite expensive (one of the most expensive in the country, in fact), so it’ll be interesting to see if its power bills follow suite.
Additionally, Telstra used the post to gush about its renewable energy projects, having committed $900 million to solar parks and wind farms. Telstra says energy customers will receive a mix of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources to keep their lights on. Additionally, Telstra claims its current portfolio of renewable energy sources can power about 150,000 homes in lieu of fossil fuels.
Telstra also has this useful clean energy tracker, letting users see renewable energy usage on state grids. The company seems to really be into clean energy, which of course is very welcome (we’re going to need a lot of it). The company also says that all electricity and gas plans will be carbon neutral “through emissions offsets”, without needing to opt-in.
Complete bundle plans have been a bit of a trend recently, tying internet, power and often phone plans together. Origin Energy and AGL have been doing this for a while.
Telstra Energy hasn’t fully launched yet, but you can now express your interest on its newly established website (Telstra hasn’t revealed when it’ll start selling plans, but is instead telling people to join via an expression of interest).