Ergon Energy Network is a subsidiary of Energy Queensland Limited, which is itself a
Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...
-owned company. Ergon distributes
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
to approximately 763,000 customers across the
Australian state
The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...
of
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
(excluding
South East Queensland
South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...
) through a distribution network which is regulated by the
Australian Energy Regulator
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) is the regulatory authority for the wholesale electricity and gas markets in Australia. The AER is a part of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, and enforces the rules established by the Austr ...
(AER). The AER set the prices that Ergon is allowed to charge for distribution.
History
Ergon was formed in 1999 by the Queensland Government, from the then six regional Queensland electricity distributors and their subsidiary retailers. In 2007, the Queensland Government sold approximately 50,000 contestable electricity customers and retailer trading activities to
AGL. Smaller electricity customers which are not economic continue to be billed by Ergon Energy and the electricity distribution network remains in public ownership. Ergon Energy became a subsidiary of EQL on 1 July 2016.
Operations
Today the principal operating companies are Ergon Energy Corporation Limited, as the electricity distributor, and its subsidiary Ergon Energy Queensland Pty Ltd, the electricity retailer. Ergon Energy's retailer is only permitted, by legislation, to sell electricity at the Queensland Government's Notified Prices (overseen by the
Queensland Competition Authority (QCA)
), enabling Queenslanders to access the same uniform electricity tariffs.
The electricity generation and distribution network consists of approximately 178,000 kilometres of powerlines and one million power poles, along with associated infrastructure such as major substations and power transformers. Ergon Energy also owns and operates 33 stand-alone power stations that provide supply to communities across Queensland which are not connected to the main electricity grid. Since August 2007, Ergon Energy has owned and operated the gas-fired
Barcaldine Power Station along with its associated infrastructure, which supplies power to the main grid.
In 2009, Ergon Energy established its first
solar farm
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...
in
Windorah
Windorah is a town and a locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is one of only three towns in the Shire of Barcoo in Central West Queensland. In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people.
Geography
Loca ...
. The
Windorah Solar Farm provides electricity to the town of Windorah and surrounding rural areas.
In regional Queensland, retail competition is limited and most customers continue to be supplied by Ergon Energy under a standard contract.
While the company has been criticised in the past for not keeping up with innovations in electricity supply such as smart meters which the state of Victoria has been acknowledged as the national leader, it is catching up with consumer-based applications that can be used to monitor energy usage in real time. Ergon Energy Retail has been a principal partner of the
Royal Flying Doctor Service
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...
(Queensland Section) since 2000. Over 20 years, Ergon Energy employees and customers have donated more than $16 million towards improved emergency and routine medical care facilities throughout Queensland.
See also
*
National Electricity Market
The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale ele ...
References
External links
Ergon Energy
{{Authority control
Electric power distribution network operators in Australia
Government-owned companies of Queensland
Energy in Queensland
Government-owned energy companies
1999 establishments in Australia