ELECTRIC UTILITIES – AUSTRALIA

Alinta’s $1bn bid for coal power station

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Original article by Ben Packham, Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-Apr-18

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison have urged AGL Energy to consider selling the Liddell power station, which is slated to close in 2022. Alinta Energy has advised that it is preparing to make an indicative offer of around $A1bn for the coal-fired power plant, and CEO Jeff Dimery is confident that his company can extend the ageing plant’s operational life at a significantly lower cost than AGL has estimated. AGL in turn has argued that it needs to retain Liddell as the site will be used to supply alternative sources of energy beyond the existing plant’s closure.

CORPORATES
AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, MACQUARIE GENERATION, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED, CS ENERGY LIMITED, DELTA ELECTRICITY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SHANDONG RUYI TECHNOLOGY GROUP COMPANY LIMITED

Satisfaction with electricity providers declining

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 29-Jan-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that customer satisfaction with electricity providers was 57.6% in the year to November 2017, compared with 61.8% in the previous 12 months. Red Energy (with a satisfaction rating of 68.2%) remains in top position among the largest providers, narrowly ahead of Lumo Energy (67.4%) and Simply Energy (65.6%). Both of the largest players showed a drop in satisfaction, with Origin down 7.9% points (to 57.6%) and AGL down 2.6% points (to 62.5%). The survey also shows that approximately 1.2 million households are considering switching electricity providers over the next 12 months, up from around one million in early 2017.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, RED ENERGY PTY LTD, LUMO ENERGY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SIMPLY ENERGY, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ERGON ENERGY CORPORATION LIMITED, AURORA ENERGY PTY LTD

Alinta’s plan to rattle AGL and Origin

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 23 : 16-Jan-18

Alinta believes that its purchase of Victoria’s Loy Yang B coal-fired power station for around $A1.2 billion can help it boost customer numbers. Alinta MD Jeff Dimery notes that it has around 800,000 to 900,000 customers at the moment, and that it is capable of coping with around two million customers. He says Alinta is still committed to expanding its renewable energy generation capacity, despite its purchase of Loy Yang B.

CORPORATES
ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ENGIE SA, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CHOW TAI FOOK ENTERPRISES LIMITED, ECOGEN ENERGY, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD

Alinta wins race for $1.2b Loy Yang B

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 24-Nov-17

Alinta has outlaid around $A1.2 billion to acquire Victoria’s Loy Yang B power station from Engie and Mitsui & Co. Loy Yang B generates around 17 per cent of Victoria’s electricity needs, and has a capacity of around 1,000 megawatts. Alinta MD Jeff Dimery said buying Loy Yang B makes it easier for it to compete with "the big guys". Larger rivals AGL Energy, Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia all have coal-fired power stations.

CORPORATES
ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ENGIE SA, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DELTA ELECTRICITY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CHINA RESOURCES (HOLDINGS) LIMITED, APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, GRATTAN INSTITUTE

Strong backing for energy plan

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Oct-17

The Australian Energy Regulator will be responsible for ensuring that electricity retailers comply with carbon emission reduction targets under the Federal Government’s National Energy Guarantee. The new energy policy also requires electricity retailers to meet reliability standards. Business leaders are generally supportive of the policy, although the Opposition has some concerns about it, while some state governments are highly critical. Former prime minister Tony Abbott maintains that the energy policy should not include an emissions reduction target.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ENERGY REGULATOR, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF ENERGY AND WATER SUPPLY, COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED, CLEAN ENERGY COUNCIL LIMITED

Small energy retailers ahead of majors on customer satisfaction

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Sep-17

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that overall satisfaction with electricity retailers has fallen over the last four years by 1.8% points, to 63.4% in July 2017. The current satisfaction leader among the 10 largest electricity retailers is Red Energy with 74.5% (an increase of 6.4% points since 2013), followed by Simply Energy on 71.4% (up 9.1% points). The two largest electricity retailers (based on domestic consumer numbers) have below-average satisfaction, with Origin Energy on 62.3% and AGL on 61.3%; both are currently below their 2013 satisfaction levels. Meanwhile, satisfaction with gas retailers has improved by 1.6% points since 2013 to 65.0%, with the greatest gains from Simply Energy (up 14.6% points to 73.8%), and Lumo Energy (up 9.4% points to 74.6% and now the market leader). Among the four largest gas retailers, Alinta, Origin and Energy Australia have shown some improvement in satisfaction since 2013, but all four currently remain below the industry average.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, RED ENERGY PTY LTD, SIMPLY ENERGY, LUMO ENERGY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KLEENHEAT GAS PTY LTD, ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL

PM demands power chiefs act on prices

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 4-Aug-17

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has requested that the heads of Australia’s main electricity retailers attend a meeting with him in the week beginning 7 August. Turnbull will tell them that the Federal Government wants retailers to provide customers with greater detail about how their power costs are incurred, so as to help them to reduce their expenses by either changing plans or retailer. A recent report from St Vincent de Paul concluded that the average Victorian power customer could save $A830 a year on electricity costs by changing from the most expensive plan to the least expensive one.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY COUNCIL, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY REGULATOR, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, SNOWY HYDRO LIMITED, MOMENTUM ENERGY PTY LTD, ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, SIMPLY ENERGY, ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

2016 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards: Telecommunications and Utilities winners revealed

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Feb-17

Australia’s most satisfying home phone, mobile phone, internet, and utilities service providers were announced last week at the 2016 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards. Southern Phone scored its fourth consecutive Home Phone Service Provider award, with a clean sweep of the year’s monthly awards and a peak of 90 per cent of customers satisfied. Internode made it two in a row in the category of Home Broadband Service Provider and claimed all 12 monthly awards in 2016. Meanwhile, iiNet won five monthly awards in the category of Mobile Phone Service Provider, taking out the annual award against strong competition. Red Energy took out the award for Electricity Provider for a second successive year, while Lumo Energy was Gas Provider of the year, with eight monthly awards and a peak of 78% of customers satisfied.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, SOUTHERN PHONE COMPANY LIMITED, INTERNODE SYSTEMS PTY LTD, IINET LIMITED, RED ENERGY PTY LTD, LUMO ENERGY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, APPLE PTY LTD

Analysts cool on Origin’s petroleum plan

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 8-Dec-16

Ben Wilson of RBC Capital Markets has questioned Origin Energy’s lack of information regarding the proposal to spin off its conventional oil and gas assets. However, he notes that the partial demerger will reduce Origin’s debt and the company’s complexity, and adds that Origin could eventually also offload its stake in the Australia Pacific LNG project. Mark Samter of Credit Suisse says the demerger has merits, but he believes that Origin should have pursued a trade sale rather than an IPO.

CORPORATES
ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Origin Energy spins off oil and gas business

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 7-Dec-16

Australian-listed Origin Energy has revealed plans for a partial demerger in 2017, with its conventional oil and gas assets to be held by a separately listed company. However, Origin will retain its stake in the Australia Pacific LNG project in Queensland, while it will not hold a stake in the new company. Origin CEO Frank Calabria says an IPO was deemed to offer the best value, although he adds that the group would be open to an offer that represented better value than a float. JP Morgan estimates that the assets that will be spun off are worth around $A1.8bn.

CORPORATES
ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SANDON CAPITAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX SNC, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, ILUKA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ILU, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, STANDARD AND POOR’S FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED