Simply Energy provides power and gas to just over 380,000 customers around Australia. Here's what you need to know before deciding whether to switch to Simply Energy.
Simply Energy was established in 2005 by international power company ENGIE, which operates in over 30 countries worldwide. It has its head office in Melbourne, Victoria, and provides electricity and gas to customers across Australia.
Simply Energy supplies electricity to NSW, Queensland, SA and Victoria, and natural gas to its customers in SA, Victoria, WA and NSW. Its call centre is in the Philippines.
ENGIE has divested all high-carbon generation facilities in the Asia Pacific region and operates wind and solar farms, and hydro plants. However, it also operates, and sources energy from, gas-fired plants.
Simply Energy also offers GreenPower offsets to its customers. It is carbon neutral for its product, certified by Climate Active.
Parent company ENGIE owns and operates wind and solar farms, and hydro plants.
Simply Energy offers GreenPower carbon offsets, and is carbon neutral.
But it sources power from gas-fired power generators and buys energy from open market where coal still dominates.
It has not taken an active stance on strong climate policy, nor has it committed to ending coal use by 2030.
Simply’s green energy score has dropped from 4 out of 10 stars in 2019–20, to 2.5 in 2020–21.
In Australia, ENGIE has divested all high-carbon power generation facilities.
Customer service
7,649 Simply Energy customers (2%) made complaints against the company in 2021-22.
75% of calls are answered within 30 seconds.
The average wait time is 41 seconds when calling customer service, which has more than halved since our 2020–21 survey.
2.3% of calls made to Simply Energy in 2019/20 were abandoned before being answered.
Simply Energy was fined $2.5 million in 2021 for switching customers to new contracts without their consent.
Simply Energy’s energy sources
While the energy mix breakdown for Simply Energy was not readily available, its parent company ENGIE’s power generation mix as of the end of 2018 is below.
Text-only accessible version
Natural gas: 58% Nuclear: 11% Coal: 8% Other non-renewable energy sources: 5% Hydro: 19% Wind: 5% Solar: 2% Other renewable energy sources: 1%
How we get our results
Green Electricity score
This score is based on the company’s Green Electricity Guide star rating.
Complaints score
This score is based on the number of complaints measured as a proportion against the number of customers. The higher the percentage, the better. Data via the Australian Energy Regulator – updated annually.
Call response score
This score is based on how likely the retailer is to answer a call within 30 seconds. The higher the percentage, the better. Data via the Australian Energy Regulator – updated annually.
July 2021 – Hundreds caught up in alleged ‘phoney accent’ energy switch – Simply Energy has paid penalties totalling $2.5 million after two external door-to-door sales agents allegedly used phoney accents and fake names to switch hundreds of customers to new energy contracts without their consent.
Simply Energy in the news – 2020
October 2020 – Infrastructure Capital Group To Acquire A Majority Interest In Australian Renewable Energy Trust – Infrastructure Capital Group, a leading Australian infrastructure manager, with around $2.5bn of equity under management, is pleased to announce its Australian Renewables Income Fund (“ARIF”) has agreed to acquire a 75% interest in the Australian Renewable Energy Trust (“ARET”).
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