Reducing carbon emissions with the Zero Carbon Project in Australia
Households in Australia can now switch their electricity supply contract at the Zero Carbon Project and reduce their cost of electricity, fight climate change AND get rewarded with Zero Carbon Project tokens which may increase in value over time.
Every quarter in most Australian households it is the same scenario as it was in mine yesterday: The electricity bill had arrived and it was significantly higher than what we expected and my wife asked me how this was possible — AGAIN! Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But this being the Australian electricity retail market, one of the highest priced markets with the most “interesting” retail sales practices in the world which would blow a whole in your budget, you’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?
Well, I decided to take my chances and shopped around.
I thought I was on a good rate with my retailer because I received a 30% discount on my consumer electricity if I paid on time. Like most of us though, I had never really looked at my electricity bill again after I had signed up with my retailer. So I checked my invoice and noticed that whilst I was still getting the discount, the actual price per kWh of electricity had increased by more than 30% in the last 9 months since signing up with the retailer. So my discount had already been eroded. A quick check also revealed that neither electricity wholesale prices nor taxes or levies associated with the Asutralian electricity market had been increased. So it was just my retailer who had made a low offer to lure me in and then had very quickly increased the price: a classic blend and extend strategy. As you can imagine, I was now determined to find a new supplier. The commercial comparison sites in Australia were not helpful: I just came across a lot of the same terms that I was currently on. So I checked the government site www.energymadeeasy.gov.au and I called various retailers myself. The team at Energy Locals (Jakob and Adrian) provided the best service and most transparency by a mile. How does it work?
Switching electricity retailers via the Zero Carbon Project
I went onto their website and there were 3 plans to choose from. 10 seconds later, having provided my postcode and daily average consumption, I had my indicative offer. I wanted to be sure, that there were no hidden items — after all Energy Locals promises that they are different from all the other retailers in Australia — so I used the pop-up window to ask to enter my contact details so that Energy Locals could get in touch with me.
Jakob contacted me within the hour and I provided him with a copy of my invoice. He checked all the details and advised that whilst I am on a very good plan with my current retailer, EL would be able to save me a further $50 per quarter, cap my plan (price cannot go up but it can go down if wholesale prices decrease) AND put me onto a carbon neutral contract because EL purchases carbon certificates to offset my carbon emissions.
I asked whether I could switch via the ZeroCarbonProject. Jakob immediately send me the link to their website https://energylocals.com.au/providers/zero-carbon-project/ so I could switch to Energy Locals and receive my reward tokens from the ZCP for
a. having registered with ZCP: 10 tokens,
b. having made my first purchase: 30 tokens,
c. for consuming approx 10,000kwh of zero carbon energy: 100 tokens.
d. however, having been nominated by Bruce, I am receiving a triple multiplier: so 200 additional tokens taken the consumption reward to a total of 300 tokens.
e. extra user reward for first year usage for being amongst the first 3,000 households to help tackle climate change via the ZCP: 3 times my “nomination multiplier reward” of 200 tokens above: so an extra 600 tokens
So in total 940 tokens.
6. In summary, once I had contacted EL it only took me in total 15 minutes to (1) reduce my electricity cost, (2) do my bit for the future of our planet because my new electricity supply contract is carbon neutral AND (3) get a reward in form of 1,340 ZeroCarbon Tokens.
So what are my ZeroCarbon Tokens Worth?
Energy Locals pays a transaction fee of 100 ZeroCarbon tokens to the ZCP for my purchase. Zero Carbon Project is selling these tokens to suppliers at USD0.50 to provide some liquidity to the crypto currency on exchange. Therefore, Energy Locals needs to purchase 100 tokens @ USD0.50 per token in order to pay the US$50.00 transaction fees.
So if I decide to sell my tokens and secure a price of US$0.50 then my switch to Energy Locals via the ZCP and the fact that I am consuming zero carbon electricity will have earned me US$470 and saved me AU$200.00 in electricity cost over one year. So my total benefit over one year will be AU$670.00 — not bad for 15 minutes work!!! If I introduce 5 more customers to the Zero Carbon Project and they switch to a new contract as well then this will cover the cost of my annual electricity supply.
The gift that keeps on giving
So instead of being penalised by me energy retailer who decided to increase my shoulder tariff when I decided to move my consumption into the cheaper time period, I am now actually being rewarded three times for consuming zero carbon electricity: cheaper tariff, generous ZeroCarbon Token reward and I am doing something for the future of our planet.
So in my view the Zero Carbon Project is like the gift that keeps on giving and unlike the villain in Dirty Harry who felt lucky but wasn’t, I was extremely fortunate to come across the Zero Carbon Project and Energy Locals in Australia.
And how does it work for Energy Locals? I spoke to Adrian and he confirmed that the moment I signed up via their web link https://energylocals.com.au/providers/zero-carbon-project/ they new that I had been referred by the Zero Carbon Project. This then triggered the process where Energy Locals sends quarterly or monthly reports (high volumes attract more frequent reporting) to the Zero Carbon Project so that the Zero Carbon Project can allocate the consumption based tokens to its registered customers. Too easy!
So if you are in Australia sign up at https://energylocals.com.au/providers/zero-carbon-project/ and do your bit to reduce your electricity bill and carbon emissions whilst increasing your crypto wallet. As I said, it is like the gift that keeps on giving!!!
