Energy crisis: A decade of high energy prices & rise of battery tech

• UK is many months ahead of Australia in terms of where the energy crisis is headed.
• Both countries experiencing increasing power costs as a result of a variety of issues ranging from the war in Ukraine to low gas stockpiles and increased demand for gas in Asia.
• According to Savage, smaller Australian energy retailers will also fail as a result of the situation in Australia.

Energy crisis: Massive power bills, the closure of smaller energy distributors, and the adoption of at-home electricity storage are just a few examples of what Australia may face in the coming months as the protracted gas crisis wreaks havoc on household budgets across the country.

That’s according to Beau Savage, co-founder of Byron Bay-based solar and home battery storage reseller Smart Energy, who is speaking from experience, having just returned from the United Kingdom, where he was establishing the company’s operations in Portsmouth.

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According to him, the UK is many months ahead of Australia in terms of where the energy crisis is headed, with both countries experiencing increasing power costs as a result of a variety of issues ranging from the war in Ukraine to low gas stockpiles and increased demand for gas in Asia.

He compares Australia’s recent experience to that of the United Kingdom in October 2021, when energy costs rose across the board.

“Everyone started to panic,” Savage told

“If energy rates don’t double in the UK in a year, I’d be very surprised. And then, I think we’d be kind of naive to think that the same isn’t going to happen here.”

Power bills are just one example, according to Savage, who notes that rising gas prices have hammered smaller energy distributors in the UK, which he believes will happen here as well.

There were approximately 70 home gas suppliers in the UK in the beginning of 2021. As a direct result of the crisis, 20 gas firms had suspended operations by the end of November last year. According to estimates, around 3.5 million consumers in the United Kingdom were affected.

According to Savage, smaller Australian energy retailers will also fail as a result of the situation in Australia.

“The thing is, the smaller retailers have less backing,” argues Savage, who received the 2021 Australian Young Entrepreneur Award in the Sustainability & Social Responsibility category with co-founder Elliot Hayes.

“In a moment like this, the energy prices that energy retailers pay to buy it are nearly as high as what it is to sell to the consumer, without adding in operational costs, and that’s before considering profit.”

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“As a result, many smaller energy sellers are losing money just by having consumers.” “I’d be astonished if we didn’t lose almost half of the main four retailers,” he says, referring to Origin (ASX: ORG), AGL (ASX: AGL), Energy Australia (owned by CLP Group), and Red Energy (owned by CLP Group).

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