Once the solar panels are on the roof, your retailer decides how much of that investment you actually see. The feed-in tariff is the headline, but it is rarely the number that decides your bill.
Origin Energy vs. Simply Energy: A Quick Overview
Origin is one of Australia's largest retailers, selling electricity, gas and internet across most states, with the plan range and bundling options that scale brings.
Simply Energy is smaller and competes harder on price, particularly with sign-up incentives and feed-in rates aimed at new customers.
Key Factors for Solar Households
- Solar Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs)
The credit for surplus you export.
Origin Energy: Standard rates around 6-8c/kWh, with promotional offers sometimes reaching 10-12c/kWh on particular plans or for a limited period.
Simply Energy: Typically more aggressive, often 8-12c/kWh and occasionally higher for an introductory period. Check whether the rate is conditional and what it drops to afterwards.
Verdict: Simply Energy usually leads on headline FiT. That only matters if you export a lot, and most households export less than they think.
A typical household with a 6.6kW system self-consumes somewhere between a third and a half of what it generates. The rest is exported. Look at your last bill: the export figure in kilowatt-hours, multiplied by the difference between the two feed-in rates, is what switching for the FiT is actually worth per quarter.
- Energy Usage Rates and Supply Charges
What you pay to import, plus the daily supply charge. For most solar households this is the larger number by a wide margin.
Origin Energy: Competitive without usually being cheapest, with discounts for paying on time or bundling. Rates vary considerably by state and network area.
Simply Energy: Often keener on usage rates, with discounts for signing up online or using direct debit. Supply charges around market average.
Verdict: Close, and it depends on your postcode. A high FiT paired with high usage rates loses to the reverse for almost every household, because you buy more than you sell.
The daily supply charge deserves attention too. It is fixed, you pay it whether you use anything or not, and over a year the difference between retailers on supply charge alone can outweigh a couple of cents on the feed-in rate.
- Solar-Specific Plans and Flexibility
Origin Energy: Some plans carry higher FiTs or extras for solar customers, and the online portal gives genuine detail on usage and export.
Simply Energy: Fewer dedicated solar plans, competitive base rates applied across the board. The online tools are functional rather than analytical.
Verdict: Origin for solar-specific insight, Simply Energy for base pricing.
- Customer Service and Support
Origin Energy: Phone, chat and self-service portal, with the systems that come from scale and the wait times that sometimes come with it.
Simply Energy: Generally well reviewed, often described as more responsive, which smaller retailers tend to be.
Verdict: Check recent reviews for your own state. Service quality varies more by region than by brand.
- Billing and Account Management
Origin Energy: Detailed portal and app with full usage, export and billing history, plus flexible payment options. Dense, but the information is there.
Simply Energy: Clearer, simpler billing. Less to dig through and less to dig into.
Verdict: Origin if you will analyse it, Simply Energy if you want to read it and move on.
- Green Credentials and Renewable Energy
Origin Energy: Investing in large-scale renewables and divesting coal over time, with GreenPower available.
Simply Energy: GreenPower also available, without the same generation portfolio behind it.
Verdict: Both let you buy accredited renewable supply.
Worth knowing what GreenPower actually does: it does not change the electrons coming down your street. It funds accredited renewable generation equal to the share of your usage you nominate. That is a real contribution, but it is an accounting mechanism rather than a supply change.
Making Your Choice
- Exporting a lot of surplus: Simply Energy's higher FiT is worth chasing.
- Importing more than you export, which is most households: the usage rate and supply charge decide it, and that is worth more than any FiT difference.
- Want the data: Origin's portal is the better tool.
Do it properly: put your actual annual consumption and export figures into Energy Made Easy, the government comparison site, and compare total annual cost. Not the feed-in rate, the total. Retailers price the two against each other precisely because most people only look at one.
Rates change every year, so repeat the exercise annually.
Read More
For a detailed overview, check out our master guide: Read the Full Guide Here.