Meet Nick

Nick and his wife mostly work from home, navigating the delightful chaos of raising two young children. Their tech-heavy household demands a lot of electricity to support daily laundry, cooking, their work-from-home office and a home entertainment system.

The problem: managing energy use in a busy household

Previously, Nick’s family were on a traditional, flat-rate electricity plan. They didn’t pay attention to when they used energy but were more conscious about using less to keep their bills down. As a new family trying to keep up with laundry, they found this challenging.

After finding out their electricity rate was increasing to approximately 37 c/kWh, they decided to look for an alternative solution that would better suit their energy-intensive lifestyle.

The solution: using energy at the right time, not using less

Enter Flow Home. With its monthly behaviour-based incentive, the Price Efficiency Adjustment (PEA), Flow Home rewards customers for using energy when wholesale prices are low and renewable energy generation is high, by reducing their base rate. Nick and his partner decided to give it a try.

Initially, they didn’t change much, but noticed their PEA reduced their electricity base rate by 1.11 c/kWh. Encouraged by this small win, they started following the Flow Power app’s recommendations. They shifted their laundry, dryer, and dishwasher use to daytime hours, taking advantage of the low-cost, renewable energy available during the day. Working from home made this change easier, providing extra flexibility to manage their energy use.

“I have a small family with 2 young kids, we don’t have solar or an EV, but we work from home most days, so this plan suits us well.”

The results: the more you shift, the more you save

By their third month with Flow Home, Nick’s family had adopted a new routine and made a habit of checking the Flow Power app to plan their energy use. As they use a lot of energy every day, they mostly used the daily energy forecast – as planning for the week didn’t always go to plan with young kids around!

“We used to do all the washing and drying in the evening when the kids were in bed. Shifting to the day took getting used to but the savings are decent.”

Their behaviour changes were rewarded with a PEA of -4.25 c/kWh. They found that even with the unpredictability of young kids, they could still make smart energy choices. If evening prices were high, they would opt for stove cooking instead of using the oven – motivated by their success.

How Nick is getting on

Now, after 12 months with Flow Home, Nick’s family have found their groove. They follow a simple rule of thumb: use more energy when the sun is shining. This approach has consistently reduced their base rate by an average of 3.61 c/kWh each month, reducing their bills by $25 per month on average. In their best month, Nick’s family reduced their base rate by 5.6 c/kWh, reducing their base rate to 32 c/kWh – 5 c/kWh less than if he stayed with his previous provider.

“I like having more choice over my energy price. We’ve been saving a lot each month. We can’t always keep an eye on the app so we mostly try to use more energy when the sun is shining which has worked well.”