Operational Reporting - Essential Energy

SUCCESSFUL NATIONAL RETAILER
Country Energy is a national energy retailer
offering a broad range of competitive products,
offers and value-added services.
“It’s easy to sleep at night knowing
that we have done our little bit
to help the environment, and the
best bit is that we have reduced
our energy bill by 30 per cent!”
Country Energy’s retail operations cover six Australian states
and territories, and we serve around 870,000 customers.
Our product range includes competitive energy offers,
renewable energy, ADSL broadband and dial-up internet
services, LPG, energy and water management solutions and
value-added services such as energy efficiency advice and
flexible payment options.
We operate in a competitive market environment and, as a
commercial business, we seek to make offers to customers
that provide us with a sustainable return and our customers
with value for money.
Year in review
Our retail operations maintained our market position
during the year, achieving growth in our total load portfolio,
successfully entering a new geographic market and recording
significant growth in countrygreen® customers.
Our success in providing excellent customer service can
be seen in results from independent market research
conducted during the year, which confirm Country Energy
as an industry leader.
Performance highlights
portfolio of more than 30 per cent
per cent of the load in the State
48,000
proportion of satisfied customers than any other major
energy retailers*.
* Wave 12 of the Utility Market Intelligence research (2007)
Customer growth and retention
Despite challenging, high cost energy market conditions,
we managed to achieve over 30 per cent growth in our
total contracted commercial and industrial load portfolio
by focusing our efforts on tailoring offers to customers to
reflect market conditions.
We retained and continued to manage a range of high profile
customers including Commonwealth Scientific Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO), Sydney Markets Limited
and National Australia Bank.
We continued to expand our customer base, securing
contracts with companies such as Sims Aluminium Pty
Limited, RMIT University, and Joe White Maltings, and
expanding into new geographical markets. For the first time,
we entered into Electricity Supply Agreements with customers
in Tasmania and acquired over 10 per cent of the state’s
load. We were also issued with natural gas retail licences
in Tasmania and South Australia. As a result, Country Energy
now operates in six Australian states and territories.
countrygreen® product improvements
Country Energy offers our customers GreenPower products
that are accredited through the National GreenPower
Accreditation Program.
In September 2007, Country Energy responded to customer
demand with a new range of fully accredited GreenPower
products. The residential product range comprises four
core products:
The range of countrygreen®products for businesses was
extended to include a 100 per cent accredited consumption
based product. The product range for businesses now
comprises:
Strong take-up of these products by the small business
community in 2007–08 reflects growing customer
commitment to reducing energy consumption and helping
the environment.
Overall, customer take-up of GreenPower products has
increased strongly over the past year with around 48,000
customers now choosing GreenPower – representing a year
on year growth rate of around 60 per cent.
Country Energy again took part in the annual Green
Electricity Watch and Choice surveys, ranking highly in both
surveys and receiving praise for our transparent approach to
our product range and removal of non-accredited GreenPower
product options. These surveys are often used by customers
when comparing GreenPower products, and this year’s results
further cement our place as a reputable GreenPower retailer.
John and Aileen Brooks have been Country Energy
foreverGREEN customers since November 2006,
Home
and in that time they have reduced their energy
28 Finding better ways consumption significantly.
Finding better ways 29