Origin Energy Launches Origin Smart Service Using Tendril Platform

BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Tendril®, the leader in delivering consumer engagement applications and services, confirmed today that Origin Energy, the leading Australian integrated energy company, recently launched its Origin Smart service to customers in the state of Victoria.  Origin Smart is built on the Tendril Energize™ application suite and offers Origin customers unprecedented insight into how they are using energy, along with tools to better manage their electricity consumption and bills.

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As Australia's leading energy retailer with 4.4 million customers, Origin is continuously looking for ways to innovate and deliver greater choice in products and services to existing and prospective customers. In 2011, Origin chose Tendril Energize™ as the foundation for a pilot energy consumer engagement program, with the goal of a broader rollout in 2012. Based on the success of the pilot, which demonstrated strong consumer acceptance, Origin Smart has now been introduced to eligible households across Victoria. Origin Smart aims to help make Victorians aware of the benefits that can be achieved through greater insight and control over their electricity usage.

"Until now, customers in Australia have really only seen a tangible measure of their energy use when their quarterly paper bill arrives, with associated feelings of being powerless to manage those bills," said Frank Calabria, Origin Chief Executive Officer, Energy Markets, at the launch of Origin Smart at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station. "In contrast, Origin Smart will provide households with the ability to measure their usage and costs in half hour blocks – that is 48 times a day or 17,520 times per annum, versus the traditional four times per year."

Origin Smart is the first large-scale rollout of a smart energy management service by an Australian energy retailer. The solution uses half-hourly data from a household's smart meter and converts it into an easy-to-understand and highly visual analysis of each household's energy consumption and costs.  Using a web portal customized by Tendril for Origin, Origin Smart customers can learn more about how energy is being used in their homes, see what the predicted cost of their electricity bill will be and receive individual feedback and tips to help them better manage their energy use—both from energy experts as well as other participating customers who collaborate via the solution's social media tools.

"It is the start of a revolution in how customers understand and manage their electricity consumption," Mr. Calabria said. "This is the first time that Victorian customers have been able to understand what energy is costing them as they use it - thereby empowering them to make decisions about their energy usage that could make a difference to their electricity bill and better manage household budgets.

Adrian Tuck, CEO of Tendril said, "We're proud to be providing one of the innovative technologies that Origin is deploying to better differentiate itself in the competitive energy retail market in Australia. We are also excited to be a part of what we believe to be the first large-scale, mass roll out of an energy consumer engagement campaign anywhere in the world."

Additional information on Origin Smart can be found at http://www.originenergy.com.au/originsmart/take-a-tour.

About Tendril®

Tendril is changing the way the world uses energy with its groundbreaking consumer engagement applications and services. Energy providers, product manufacturers, and consumer channel partners use Tendril's solutions to foster deeper consumer relationships, differentiate their products, achieve business objectives and drive increased value over the lifetime of the consumer.  The company's flagship application suite, Tendril Energize™ delivers the insight, choice and control utilities and consumers need to meet their energy management goals.  All of its solutions are built on Tendril Connect™, a software platform that integrates an ecosystem of product and service providers, enabling them to engage consumers and seamlessly engage, extend and evolve their offerings. Tendril works with more than 35 energy providers as well as product and service providers and has implemented more than 50 smart energy projects around the world. In 2012, the company opened its platform to developers to support the creation of an open application marketplace.  It now has more than 400 developers registered in the program and more than 20 applications have been built using Tendril Connect.

Tendril is headquartered in Boulder, Colo. with regional offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Melbourne, Australia.  It is venture backed by VantagePoint Capital Partners, Siemens Venture Capital (SVC), Good Energies, RRE Ventures and GE.  For more information, visit www.tendrilinc.com.

About Origin

Origin Energy is the leading Australian integrated energy company focused on gas and oil exploration and production, power generation and energy retailing. A member of the S&P/ASX 20 Index, the company has more than 5,900 employees and is a leading producer of gas in eastern Australia. Origin is Australia's largest energy retailer servicing 4.4 million electricity, natural gas and LPG customer accounts and has the country's largest and one of the most flexible generation portfolios with approximately 5,900 MW of capacity, through either owned generation or contracted rights. Origin's strategic positioning and portfolio of assets provide flexibility, stability and significant opportunities for growth across the energy industry. Through Australia Pacific LNG, its incorporated joint venture with ConocoPhillips and Sinopec, Origin is developing one of Australia's largest CSG to LNG projects based on Australia's largest 2P CSG reserves base.

In New Zealand, Origin is the major shareholder in Contact Energy, the country's leading integrated energy company, operating geothermal, thermal and hydro generation facilities and servicing electricity, gas and LPG customers across both the North and South islands. Origin also operates several oil and gas projects in New Zealand and is one of the largest holders of petroleum exploration acreage in the country.

Origin has a strong focus on ensuring the sustainability of its operations, is the largest green energy retailer in Australia and has significant investments in renewable energy technologies.

For more information go to www.originenergy.com.au 

SOURCE Tendril