Wholesave

To be eligible for WHOLESAVE you must be:

• a Business Customer with a valid ABN and the network tariff applicable to you or the Premises must be a business tariff; or
• a Residential Customer who is a Sophisticated Investor; or
• a Residential Customer who:
  • is not a retiree or pensioner;
  • is not a concession card holder nor otherwise entitled to any Centrelink, Veteran’s Affairs or other agency’s concession, rebate, or service; and
  • is earning gross income per annum of more than $100,000 excluding any superannuation benefits;
• the meter at the Premises must be a smart meter, capable of being remotely read, that records usage in 5 Minute Intervals, 15 Minute Intervals or 30 Minute Intervals;
• there must not be any additional metering installation behind the connection point at the Premises that is registered with AEMO and in respect of which there is a separate NMI;
• you must not be receiving any payment difficulties assistance, and must not be on any payment plan, in connection with any of your energy services and must not have been so in the 12 months preceding the Acceptance Date;
• you must accept communications from us electronically;
• if you are a Residential Customer, you must agree to pay and pay our bills by direct debit from a credit card in your name, and of a sort identified on our website as being acceptable for these purposes; and
• there must be no person living or intending to live at the Premises who requires life support equipment.

The wholesale electricity market operates based on the demand and supply of electricity, with wholesale electricity price (wholesale price) changing every 5-minute. The dynamic nature of changes in demand and supply causes wholesale prices to be volatile, ranging from negative $1/kWh to over $20/kWh.

Unlike traditional fixed price energy plans, WHOLESAVE is an electricity energy plan that has one variable price component (wholesale usage charge) linked to the wholesale price and other fixed price components to cover costs other than the electricity wholesale cost recovered from the wholesale usage charge.

Given the risk associated with the volatility of wholesale price, WHOLESAVE is only suitable for engaged and knowledgeable customers willing to take some risks in return of potential lower electricity cost than the cost they would have incurred had they been being on a traditional fixed price energy plans. See eligibility criteria to see if you are eligible for this plan.

WHOLESAVE allows customers to manage the risk of being exposed to the 5-minute wholesale price by purchasing caps from GloBird. The cap allows customers to select a portion of their 5-minute electricity usage (Wholesale Capped Usage) that will not be charged a wholesale price higher than a pre-determined price (Wholesale Price Cap) set by GloBird:

1. if in a given 5-minute interval the wholesale price is lower than or equal to the Wholesale Price Cap, the wholesale usage charge for that 5-minute interval will be calculated by applying the wholesale price to the customer’s total usage in that 5-minute interval.
2. if in a given 5-minute interval the wholesale price is higher than the Wholesale Price Cap, the wholesale usage charge for that 5-minute interval will be calculated as follow:
   • the Wholesale Price Cap will apply to that portion of the customer electricity usage in that 5-minute interval, up to the Wholesale Capped Usage; and
   • The wholesale price will apply to the remaining balance of their usage in that 5-minute interval (if applicable).
3. If in a given 5-minute interval the wholesale price is negative, the customer receives a credit by applying the wholesale price to the customer’s total usage in that 5-minute interval .

Note, the wholesale usage charge is subject to distribution and marginal loss factors adjustment. These losses are set by independent bodies as required under energy laws.

Here is an example of how the 5-minute wholesale usage charge, a component of the total charge, is calculated, assuming a Wholesale Price Cap of $2/kWh and a Wholesale Capped Usage of 0.3kWh and ignoring the effect of distribution and marginal loss factors:

• In the first 5-minute interval the wholesale price ($0.2/kWh) was lower than the Wholesale Price Cap ($2/kWh), therefore the total customer’s usage (0.5 kWh) is charged the wholesale price
• In the second 5-minute interval the wholesale price ($2/kWh) was equal to the Wholesale Price Cap ($2/kWh), therefore the total customer’s usage (0.4 kWh) is charged the wholesale price
• In the third 5-minute interval the wholesale price ($4/kWh) was higher than the Wholesale Price Cap ($2/kWh) AND the customer usage (0.2 kWh) was lower than the Wholesale Capped Usage (0.3 kWh), therefore the total customer’s usage (0.2 kWh) is charged the price cap.
• In the fourth 5-minute interval the wholesale price ($4/kWh) was higher than the Wholesale Price Cap ($2/kWh) AND the customer’s usage (0.5 kWh) was higher than the Wholesale Capped Usage (0.3 kWh), therefore the first 0.3 kWh of the customer usage is charged the Wholesale Price Cap ($2/kWh) and the balance (0.2 kWh) is charges the wholesale price ($4/kWh).
• In the fifth 5-minute interval the wholesale price (-$5/kWh) was negative, therefore the customer receives a credit based on the total customer usage.