While energy’s becoming smarter and cleaner, quite rapidly, there’s still plenty of ways consumers can reduce the amount of energy they use at home. Adding up to lower energy bills and more eco-friendly habits.

Origin’s 2021 Future Energy Report reveals some uncomfortable truths around energy wastage, particularly amongst younger people.

When it comes to having showers longer than five minutes, for example, 53% of those 18 to 34 and 21% of those aged 55+ said they were guilty – and 38% of respondents said they left appliances switched on at the plug.

We also couldn’t help but admire the bond between humans and animals when 13% of those aged 18 to 34 said they leave the TV on as company for their pets. So, with all that in mind, what are the big-ticket behavioural changes people can make to use less energy? Here’s what the experts had to say.

1. Turn down the heat

“When you look at the things that contribute significantly to an energy bill, it’s mainly related to heating and cooling,” says Jan Prichard, General Manager Customer Care at Origin. “Adjust the heater temperature down and opt for a jumper and some socks.” Independent energy consultant working with St Vincent de Paul Society, Anne Armansin, agrees. “Cheap heaters can use up to five times more energy as a reverse cycle air conditioner” she says.

“Instead, go for an electric throw rug that uses a maximum of 150 watts, compared to an electric heater that will start at 500 watts and go up to 2.4 kilowatts,” Armansin recommends.

Set your reverse cycle AC (heating) temp between 18°C and 20°C in winter to save up to 10% on usage.

2. Avoid dual fuel when you can

If your household has a gas supply only for the cooktop, consider switching to electric-only when you next upgrade the cooker. “With electricity and gas you’re facing two separate supply charges, no matter how much or how little you use,” Armansin says. “If you just use gas for a cook-top, the supply charge can make up around 80% of your bill.”

3. Research new purchases

When you’re buying a new product for your home, look at the label to understand its power consumption and take into consideration its energy star rating. “Know the ongoing impact a product will have on your wallet,” Prichard says. “Don’t just look at the purchase price.”

4. Unplug devices when they’re not in use

A long time ago, when you switched off a device you really did switch off a device. These days, you’re simply switching it into sleep mode. In that mode it’s still keeping the time, staying connected to WiFi, powering the red ‘off’ light, downloading updates, etc. These are all the same things that cause your smartphone’s battery to run down overnight. “Instead of allowing this constant drain on your system, switch devices off at the wall when you’re not using them” Prichard says.

5. Get familiar with your energy usage

Explore apps offered by your provider, and other opportunities such as Origin Spike to become more familiar with your energy usage behaviours. And get everybody in the house involved. “Most find that by making small behavioural changes, they can significantly reduce their bills” Prichard says. But without knowing your patterns in the first place, it’s difficult to figure out what you’re doing right and wrong.

The post 5 ways to make your home more energy efficient appeared first on The Origin Blog.

To lift the veil on the complex world of energy, Origin’s new podcast So Watt? gives you the inside scoop on all things energy. From what’s coming, why you should care, and most importantly, what’s in it for you – So Watt? has the answers.

So, Watt’s it about?

Hosted by comedian and passionate home renovator Andy Saunders – who you may recognise from the 2019 season of The Block as one half of fan favourites “Andy and Deb” – So Watt? delves into Australia’s evolving energy sector and the driving forces that are propelling it towards a smarter, more sustainable future.

A self-professed energy newbie, each episode will see Andy tackle a new piece of the energy puzzle in an effort to better understand why the sector is changing and how he (and you) can play a part. “I’ve always had an interest in sustainable design for homes, but up until now I haven’t really spent much time looking into the different smart and clean energy solutions available today,” Andy said. “I’m excited to be hosting my first podcast and sharing what I’ve learnt about energy including how I can reduce my carbon footprint, and how I can save some coin in the process.”

From EVs, to online gaming, the Jetsons, solar and home batteries, the six-part series tackles some big (and small) energy related questions, all the while providing handy energy hacks.

Featuring interviews with everyday Aussies as well as industry experts, including banking disruptor Up Banking’s Dom Pym and the father of photovoltaics, AKA solar, Martin Green, So Watt? gives you access to some of Australia’s brightest innovators in an upbeat, no-nonsense easy to digest format. 

So Watt? brings together experts, innovators and change-makers to help ordinary Aussies understand the tremendous transformation underway in how energy is produced and consumed and how ordinary households and businesses will all play a role.

So, Watt next?

Get a taste for So Watt? The first episode is set to drop on Wednesday the 10th of November. New episodes will be released weekly on a Wednesday.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts today! Want to know more?

The post So Watt? you ask… appeared first on The Origin Blog.

Now in its fourth year, the Future Energy Report’s been tracking Australia’s evolving attitudes and behaviours on what sits behind the switch. Including how people are using energy, adoption of technology, and their views on a rapidly changing energy landscape.

Battery powered

Headlining this year’s report is strong interest in home batteries and other low carbon energy technologies. 85% of Australians believe that home batteries will eventually be as common as TVs in Australian homes. And for homes that already have a battery, 65% of them are happy with the value they are getting from it. However, 76% of people without a home battery believe they’re too expensive to install today.

“With tremendous growth in rooftop solar over the past decade, the way we interact with energy has changed dramatically and Australians are increasingly turning to smarter and cleaner energy solutions to help them reduce their energy costs,” according to Origin’s head of retail, Jon Briskin.

“The key to accelerating the adoption of home batteries lies in helping to make them more accessible and affordable for more Australians by finding ways to lower the higher upfront cost and deliver greater value, with connection to a Virtual Power Plants being one way to do that.”

The report also found that Australians are open to allowing energy companies to help manage their energy use and remotely control services such as air-conditioning, hot water and EV charging or connecting to a virtual power plant, with 84% of Australians saying they were interested in demand management.

Driving towards an electric future

The report found nearly half of Australians would consider an EV if buying a new car today, and 31% believe their children would learn to drive in an EV within the next 10 years.

However, the lower fuel and maintenance costs of EVs may not be well understood because 72% of Australians said that the cost of EVs was preventing them from buying one.

“We expect that EV sales will accelerate when the cost of buying a new EV reaches parity with petrol engine vehicles around the middle of this decade,” Mr Briskin said.

“Until then, supportive coordinated national policy can help play an important role in addressing the higher upfront cost of EVs. The recent incentives announced in Victoria and New South Wales are a step in the right direction, as we’ve seen government incentives drive rapid uptake of EVs across parts of Europe and the United Kingdom.”

The hip pocket test

Unsurprisingly, the report shows that while interest in energy is at an all-time high. Cost remains the number one priority for most Australians in choosing an energy provider, as well as investing in energy technologies such as solar, home batteries and electric vehicles.

“Similar to the exponential growth we have seen in rooftop solar over the past decade, once the value of batteries and EVs are clear for customers, we expect to see more Australians adopt a tech-driven clean energy future,” Mr Briskin said.

A sunny disposition

Of all Australians surveyed, unsurprisingly it’s solar households that have the highest levels of energy literacy and are more likely to actively manage their energy use.

More than two-thirds of Australians with solar say that having solar has made them more engaged with energy overall, 74% say it has made them more interested in managing their home’s energy, and 59% say it has made them more interested in getting other energy related technology for their home.

The future is now

“Right now, is an exciting time for customers, with a smarter, cleaner and more connected energy system helping give them more power and control over their energy use and bills,” Origin’s Jon Briskin said.

“People are becoming more engaged with energy, with solar acting as an entry point, and the pandemic accelerating this change. We expect this engagement to continue to increase with more growth in connected smart devices, and further changes to the way energy’s generated, distributed and stored.”

The full picture

Want to find out more about our nation’s energy future?

The post Introducing Origin’s 2021 Future Energy Report appeared first on The Origin Blog.

While it might be difficult to envisage today, in the not-too-distant future most of us will be driving an electric vehicle (EV) to get us from A to B. Admittedly this seems like a pretty huge challenge when combustion engine vehicles still dominate the Australian market, with EVs making up just 0.6 per cent of new car sales last year. So, what makes us think things will turn around so quickly?

by Tony Lucas, Head of Future Energy & Technology

Well, firstly, it’s starting to slowly change. The number of EVs sold in Australia more than tripling from 2,216 vehicles in 2018 to 6,618 in 2019. Why? It’s quite simple, the benefits of EVs are so compelling.

First, using EVs instead of combustion engine vehicles can help reduce Australia’s carbon emissions and therefore contribute to our efforts to combat climate change. Transportation is the second highest source of carbon emissions in Australia, making up nearly 19 per cent of greenhouse emissions.

The economic benefits are also stacked heavily in favour of EVs, not least because you don’t have to worry about petrol costs anymore. They will also play an integral role in the future of our electricity system.

EVs are essentially batteries on wheels that have the potential to help make our electricity system more flexible and responsive, and to help us manage peak demand events. There are also benefits for owners of EVs if they can optimise how they use and charge their vehicles, helping them manage their power costs.

How can EVs help the electricity grid?

Operating as mobile batteries, EVs can provide flexible storage to help manage demand across the network if this is coordinated and managed effectively.

EVs can absorb excess renewable energy generated in the middle of the day and discharge back to the grid during periods of peak demand.

Conversely, without a degree of coordination, there is a risk that an increased volume of EVs across the network could lead to constraints across both the wholesale energy markets and distribution networks. Imagine if there was significant growth in EV ownership in future and everyone returned home in the evening and charged their cars at the same time when demand is already at a peak?

How can EV owners benefit?

Smart charging solutions potentially offer the key to unlocking the value of EVs for both the energy market and for EV owners.

This week, Origin launched an EV smart charging trial in partnership with automotive and energy partners and funding from ARENA.

Working in partnership with Custom Fleet, Hyundai, Nissan, Schneider Electric, GreenFlux, Ausgrid and United Energy, we will provide residential and fleet owners 150 smart chargers that work three times faster than regular charging.

The smart chargers will be connected to Origin’s proprietary Virtual Power Plant (VPP) so we can optimise the charging of these EVs to reduce the impact on peak demand and absorb excess renewable generation during the day. Origin’s VPP orchestrates distributed assets such as residential and commercial-sized batteries, residential air-conditioning units, electric hot water and pool pumps, industrial chillers, water cooling pumps for our power stations and this is growing every day.

The VPP will direct the chargers to turn on and off and up and down in line with the wholesale price – charging vehicles when prices are low and turning off chargers when the price is higher. We can help bring down the price of running an EV for owners as well as manage demand and load on the system. Origin will look to use insights from the trial to design EV charging solutions for more customers that reward EV drivers with faster and cheaper charging.

Fleet owners lead the way on EV take-up

In Australia, while very few households have EVs today, we are slowly starting to see some good momentum with the fleet sector leading the way.

Origin has commenced the process to transition our fleet of passenger vehicles to electric, with 10 EVs operating in the fleet so far and a plan to electrify as many vehicles as possible.

We have partnered with one of Australia’s leading fleet management providers, Custom Fleet, to offer business customers an end-to-end EV fleet management solution which will provide the best vehicle, charging, energy management solutions to make it seamless for customers to transition their fleet to EVs.

Where to next?

The opportunity for the energy sector, for policy makers, regulators and governments – is to help provide the right settings that make it easy for customers to realise the benefits of owning an EV.

Origin’s trial, with the help a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), will help shape the way forward and the role that EVs can play in a future energy world that is smarter, cleaner and more efficient.

Want to learn more?

Tune into episode two of our So Watt? podcast as we chat about all things EVs:

This Project received funding from ARENA as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program. The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, and the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein.

The post The future is electric appeared first on The Origin Blog.

“We’re reimagining the future of energy for customers, exploring new products, new ideas and better ways of doing things,” explains Brendan. “It’s all about creating smarter ways for customers to take control of energy in their home.”

One recent trial with smart technology, Sensibo Sky, has been providing customers with the ability to monitor and control their air conditioner remotely through their mobile phone.

During times of peak electricity demand, trial participants were asked if they were okay for Origin to remotely adjust their air conditioner’s temperature by two degrees for two hours in return for a credit on their account.

“On a hot day when lots of air conditioners are running, the energy grid is put under pressure which can impact network reliability. This trial is testing how we can reduce pressure on the grid, and help customers use their air conditioners more efficiently, bringing down their energy bills at the same time.”

Almost three quarters of people who participated in the trial believe that Sensibo Sky has helped them save energy in their home.

This trial is just one-way Origin is helping customers to take control, use energy smarter and bring their bills down. 

In June 2020, Origin announced a partnership with US energy tech start-up OhmConnect to launch an easy and fun demand response platform for our Australian customers.

OhmConnect already has more than 500,000 customers across the US and Canada who participate in regular, energy saving events. Customers are given an energy reduction target and are rewarded with prizes or cash. 

“The way we use energy in the home is rapidly changing thanks to technology such as smart devices, rooftop solar and batteries. And as this continues to grow, we are focussed on connecting customers to these new technologies and solutions to improve their experience, give them greater choice and more control.”

The post Reimagining the future of energy appeared first on The Origin Blog.