Elysian Energy collapses after begging customers to switch provider as its costs soared

Energy company collapses after begging customers to switch provider as costs soared – with THOUSANDS of homes to be affected

An energy provider has been suspended from the national electricity market and will be banned from trading after being placed in voluntary administration.

Elysian Energy, the majority of whose customers are Victoria-based, will be taken off the market from Friday, the Australian Energy Market Operator confirmed.

Insolvency experts Adrian Hunter and Robyn Erskine of Brooke Bird have been appointed as administrators of the company.

Customers of the provider are expected to be transferred to a different provider.

Elysian Energy, the majority of whose customers are Victoria-based, will be taken off the national energy market from Friday

‘Elysian Energy customers do not have to worry about their electricity being cut off during this transition,’ Mr Hunter said in a statement.

‘We are working hand-in-hand with the Essential Services Commission, the Australian Energy Regulator and AEMO to ensure this is a smooth process for all the customers.’

Elysian provides about 7500 houses with solar energy.

The closure comes three months after Elysian urged its customers to find a new provider as rising wholesale costs were forcing them to double prices.

The closure comes three months after Elysian urged its customers to find a new provider amid the soaring wholesale cost of energy

The closure comes three months after Elysian urged its customers to find a new provider amid the soaring wholesale cost of energy 

Customers received a letter from the service saying it has been absorbing massive wholesale power price hikes and that added costs for consumers will soon increase by at least 100 per cent.

ReAmped Energy used a similar measure and told customers it was in their best interests to switch providers to get a cheaper price.

At the time the Australian Energy Regulator raised benchmark prices for retailers, resulting in households receiving higher bills from July 1.

ReAmped Energy chief executive Luke Blincoe said it was an ‘incredibly volatile time’ for the energy market due to rising costs.

‘Several retailers have already started to pull up the drawbridge, so customers need to act fast to get themselves onto a better deal now before it´s too late,’ he said in a statement.

‘There are still a handful of competitive deals in the market. No one really knows how bad it will get, so we want people to act now.’

ReAmped Energy has 70,000 customers across NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT. 

The collapse of Elysian comes after Australians were warned to expect power shortages from mid-2023 as coal and gas generation plants are withdrawn from the national electricity grid as part of a switch to renewable energy sources intended to reduce carbon dixoide emissions.

At least five coal and gas power plants will be retired in Australia in the next decade (pictured: The Loy Yang coal-fired power station in Victoria)

At least five coal and gas power plants will be retired in Australia in the next decade (pictured: The Loy Yang coal-fired power station in Victoria)

A massive investment in power generation, storage and transmission will be needed over the next decade to ensure plant closures don’t impact homes and businesses.

The Australian Energy Market Operator forecasts significant problems across the NSW , Queensland , Victorian and SA interconnected electricity market in its latest report released on Wednesday.

‘Forecast reliability gaps have emerged across NEM (National Electricity Market) regions due to considerable coal and gas plant closures, along with insufficient new generation capacity commitments needed to offset higher electricity use,’ AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman said.

Greenpeace activists stage a protest outside the AGL Energy headquarters in Melbourne earlier this year (pictured)

Greenpeace activists stage a protest outside the AGL Energy headquarters in Melbourne earlier this year (pictured) 

He pointed to Australia’s first cluster of coal-generation retirements which will occur in the next decade – totalling 8.3 gigawatts, equal to about 14 per cent of the national electricity market’s total capacity.

‘Without further investments, this will reduce generation supply and challenge the transmission network’s capability to meet reliability standards and power system security needs.’

The report forecast reliability gaps in South Australia in 2023-24 and Victoria from 2024-25 against what is known as the ‘interim reliability measure’, and in NSW from 2025-26 against the ‘reliability standard’.

Gaps are forecast across all states in the national electricity market before 2031-32.

POWER PROJECTS SCHEDULED FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

Energy Australia’s 320MW Tallawarra B project

Snowy Hydro’s 750MW Kurri Kurri

Genex Power’s 250MW Kidston pumped hydro energy storage project

Snowy Hydro’s 2GW Snowy 2.0 project 

1GW of wind generation and almost 1.5GW of utility-scale solar generation 

The energy market operator warns more renewable projects are required to meet the shortfall (pictured: the $30billion Sun Cable project in the NT)

The energy market operator warns more renewable projects are required to meet the shortfall (pictured: the $30billion Sun Cable project in the NT) 

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