Searching for an electricity provider is complicated enough, even if you're just looking for the basics. And even if you secure a great price, it's a gamble as to whether the customer service will be up to snuff. (We all know the special hell of spending half your day trying to get through to customer service – only to be disconnected at the crucial moment.)
And if you care about the environment too, good luck finding a retailer who'll tick all the boxes.
But don't despair: you don't need to start building an off-grid home so you never have to deal with an electricity company again. We've assessed 27 energy retailers and scored them on their green credentials, customer service and number of complaints – so you don't have to wade through the internet trying to find the best provider for you.
You might be surprised to know that some of the biggest players are among the worst
Unfortunately, as you'd expect, there are some pretty ordinary companies out there – and you might be surprised to know that some of the biggest players are among the worst.
So here are five that we suggest avoiding, unless you have a penchant for ordinary customer service and trashing the planet.
How can you tell which energy retailer is best?
We analysed data from 27 Australian energy retailers and scored them based on their environmental credentials and customer service. We've also detailed which areas they supply, their market share, who owns them, and which retailers are investing back into Australia by establishing their customer service centres locally.
If you want to know more about the company's environmental approach and where they source their electricity, we outline this in each company's review. (We take this data from the Green Electricity Guide developed by Greenpeace and the Total Environment Centre, or TEC).
We also report on any press that the company has received in the past few years so you can see whether they've been playing fair or not.
While for many people cost is a major factor when choosing a retailer, there are other factors that could affect your experience with a particular company
It's easy to be swayed by special deals and discounts, but remember to make sure you read the fine print before committing. And while for many people cost is a major factor when choosing a retailer, there are other aspects to consider that could affect your experience with a particular company.
We report on three key areas to help you choose the best provider for your needs:
- Environmental credentials
- Complaints
- Call response.
The worst performing energy retailers
Origin Energy: planning to burn coal until 2032.
Origin Energy
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 51%
- Green electricity score: 16%
- Complaints score: 99%
- Call response score: 49%
The largest provider in the country, Origin Energy supplies more than 24% of residential customers. It's the fourth-largest climate polluter in the country, but claims to be the largest buyer of utility-scale solar in Australia, and is one of the few carbon-neutral energy retailers.
But it was one of the lowest scoring retailers in our green energy assessment with just 1.5 out of 10 stars. It has invested heavily in fracking in the past, and lobbied for support in this area. (However, it backed out of both NT and Queensland fracking operations in 2022.) It also plans to burn coal until 2032.
Origin is one of the lowest scoring retailers in our green energy assessment with just 1.5 out of 10 stars.
So, there are lots of environmental reasons not to go with Origin, but how does it fare in terms of customer service? Not great.
If you're calling Origin, the average wait time to have your call answered is 135 seconds, which is decidedly ordinary – and it's a considerable increase on its wait time in 2020–21, which was 82 seconds. A total of 24,717 of Origin Energy's 2.3 million customers lodged a complaint about the company.
Although its customer service has room for improvement, far and away the biggest contributor to its poor score is its environmental credentials. Here's more about Origin Energy's review.
If you're keen to find a more environmentally friendly company, we'll talk you through how to find the best green electricity provider.
EnergyAustralia: second biggest carbon polluter in the country.
EnergyAustralia
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 51%
- Green electricity score: 14%
- Complaints score: 98%
- Call response score: 53%
As the second biggest carbon polluter in Australia, EnergyAustralia received an understandably low green electricity score in our review. But it's actually become worse over time, dropping to just 1.5 stars out of 10, compared with 6 out of 10 in 2019–20.
And it doesn't look like it plans to significantly change that: it reportedly has the least ambitious decarbonisation goals of the 'big 3' energy providers, planning to burn coal until 2040 and being involved in mining coal as well as burning it.
EnergyAustralia reportedly has the least ambitious decarbonisation goals of the 'big 3' energy providers
It does have one carbon-neutral product, but the company as a whole isn't carbon neutral.
As far as customer service is concerned, EnergyAustralia does OK, but don't expect to get through straight away when you call: the average wait time for your call to be answered is 308 seconds, or just over five minutes. Don't think that sounds like too long to wait? Some people do: 12.4% of people hang up before their call is answered – that's a lot of unanswered calls.
A total of 21,912 of EnergyAustralia's 1.4 million customers lodged a complaint about the company.
Read more in our EnergyAustralia review.
Power Direct: on its way out, and it won't be missed.
Powerdirect
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 51%
- Green electricity score: 13%
- Complaints score: 99%
- Call response score: 54%
Powerdirect isn't widely known as it only services around 80,000 customers in Australia. It was established in 2000 by AGL, but is now migrating its customers back to AGL – so don't expect to see it around for much longer.
Its disappearance isn't a bad thing, though: along with Origin and Energy Australia, it's the lowest-scoring energy retailer we reviewed. (AGL doesn't fare much better, scoring 53%.)
It scores abysmally for environmental impact, thanks to AGL being Australia's biggest climate polluter, accounting for about 8% of national greenhouse gas emissions. AGL mines and burns coal, and plans to continue burning coal until 2045.
Powerdirect scores quite well for customer service, but its call response score is less impressive: 54% of customer calls are answered within 30 seconds, and its average call wait time is 195 seconds, or just over 3 minutes.
So, goodbye Powerdirect: we wish we could say it's been a pleasure but it seems like consumers will be better off without you.
Want to know more? Read our review of Powerdirect.
Sumo Power: fined $1.2 million by the ACCC for making false or misleading representations to Victorian consumers.
Sumo Power
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 52%
- Green electricity score: 35%
- Complaints score: 99%
- Call response score: 27%
If you're wanting to simplify your bills, Sumo is one way to go: the company is a one-stop shop for internet and electricity. It has no lock-in contracts, which is just as well, because you probably wouldn't want to stick with this company.
Sumo has a far better green electricity score than the previous companies we've named, due in part to the fact that it isn't involved in fossil fuel extraction – though it does buy energy from a coal-dominated open market.
But it's not exactly enviro-conscious: it has minimal support for renewable energy, doesn't have an active stance on strong climate policy, and hasn't committed to ending coal use by 2030.
What really lets the company down is its customer service. With a call response score of just 27%, Sumo had the worst rating in our review
But what really lets the company down is its customer service. With a call response score of just 27%, Sumo had the worst rating in our review. This means only 27% of people had their calls to Sumo answered within 30 seconds, but the average wait time was 151 seconds. Not great, but an improvement on its 174 second wait time in 2019–20.
Worse, though, is its track record for treating customers poorly: in 2020, it allegedly disconnected 143 customers without proper warning, and paid $500,000 in penalties. It's a pretty nasty story, which involved Sumo Power staff creating a "wall of shame" of customers who'd missed bill payments, and then allegedly wrongfully disconnecting their electricity.
It was also fined $1.2 million by the ACCC in 2021 and ordered to refund $800,000 to 7700 Victorian customers for misleading them about its electricity price plans. And in case that wasn't enough, it was also fined for breaching telemarketing laws in 2019.
Need we say more? You can read our full Sumo Power review if you want to know more about the company's track record.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
