CHARGE YOUR Electric vehicle
WITH CHEAPER RENEWABLES
Amber is a new type of electricity retailer, designed for electric vehicle owners. With Amber, you get access to the real-time wholesale price of energy - rewarding you for charging your EV when cheaper wind and solar power are available in the grid.
It’s the best way to charge your EV and accelerate Australia towards a 100% renewable future.
HOW AMBER WORKS FOR
EV OWNERS
Unlike other energy providers that sell electricity at a fixed retail rate, Amber’s customers buy power at the true wholesale electricity price. Wholesale prices are cheaper when there are more renewables in the grid, meaning that EV owners can save hundreds by charging their EV when more wind and solar power is available.
Amber doesn’t make money on your electricity usage, instead we charge a $15/month subscription fee.
THE AMBER APP PUTS THE POWER IN YOUR HANDS
By checking price and renewable forecasts in the Amber app, you can time your EV charging to take place at that sweet spot where renewables are high and wholesale prices are super low. Sometimes, you can even get paid to charge your EV when wholesale prices go negative from surplus renewables.
ARE YOU CHARGING YOUR EV WITH COAL AND GAS?
Most EV owners charge their EVs when they get home in the evening, which means they're largely charging their EV from coal and gas power—no matter which electricity retailer they are with. On the other hand, by charging your EV in the middle of the day when solar is flooding into the grid or overnight when there’s lots of cheap wind power, your EV can help accelerate Australia towards a future powered by 100% renewable energy.
You can download the free Amber app to find out how much of your power is coming from renewables right now.
Actual wholesale prices for EV charging last year with Amber
If you had charged your EV during the cheapest two hours of each day last year, these are the real wholesale prices you would have paid in each state with Amber.
VIC
SA
NSW
QLD
8.4 c/kWh
5.7 c/kWh
10.9c/kWh
13.3 c/kWh
Putting your EV charging on autopilot
In the coming months, Amber will launch our SmartShift technology for EVs. This technology will automate your EV charging so that it always takes place at the greenest and cheapest time—without you needing to lift a finger. Register your interest if you’d like to be notified when SmartShift for EVs is released in 2022 by clicking the link below. And, if you have additional questions, email us at smartshift@amber.com.au or book a call.
Tim Barson
Partnerships Manager - SmartShift
Common questions we get asked
How is Amber different to other energy providers?
Amber was founded by climate activist Dan Adams and techie mate Chris Thompson to solve the biggest problem holding Australia back from reaching 100% renewable energy: making it easier and rewarding for more Aussies to use more green energy and act on climate change. While other green energy providers focus on offsetting your fossil fuel energy use, we’re laser-focused on helping you reduce your fossil fuel use in the first place.
I'm on a green energy plan. Aren't I already using more green energy?
Right now, for anyone on a traditional retail energy plan - even a green energy plan - it’s very hard to actually use more green energy. We all draw power from the same grid and traditional plans don’t provide you with the tools you need - for example, live wholesale energy prices that drop when there’s more green energy in the grid, and the % of renewable energy in real time. Amber empowers you to make a choice.
What exactly are wholesale prices?
All energy retailers buy their electricity from the same wholesale electricity market, where prices are set every 30 minutes. The wholesale price is the true price for your usage that Amber (and other retailers) have to pay to provide you energy. The wholesale price includes wholesale energy costs (which vary every 30 mins), hedging costs, the rates charged by your local network (who own the poles and wires), metering costs and regulated charges for environmental schemes and market operations. We also add on a carbon offset to make your energy use carbon neutral.
Find out more here
Why does Amber charge a subscription fee?
While Amber offers the same 100% Carbon Neutral and GreenPower plans as other electricity providers, our model goes a step further than the rest. For a $15 a month subscription, you get access to wholesale electricity prices and the Amber app which enable you to shift more of your energy use to when power is both greener and cheaper.
Unlike other energy retailers who charge a mark-up on the energy you use, Amber makes exactly $0 on your energy usage and empowers you to go beyond offsetting. We’re so committed to our mission that the monthly fee is the only revenue we generate to run the business.
