We’re taking the power back.
We’re done with the traditional energy model. We’re non-profit.
We believe in the science of climate change.
Cooperative Power is a new way for people to buy clean, sustainable & affordable energy – and build a better future for us all.
Why join us?
By joining Cooperative Power, you’re helping to take the power back from huge energy corporations, for the benefit of people and our planet. Cooperative Power is a newly formed non-profit cooperative for Australia’s energy sector. Together we’re creating a better way to buy energy – one where we can have our say in how it’s created and how much it costs. The revenue we generate from electricity goes to supporting our mission of fighting poverty, tackling the climate crisis and supporting communities. Last year 100% of our electricity revenue went towards mitigating the impact of COVID-19. This year our customer members are deciding how we spend our revenue.
Energy usage at wholesale rates
We will never increase our rates for profit
Support workers and communities to take the power back for the benefit of people and planet
No exit fees or lock ins
We commit to invest in community renewable energy
Profits are returned to workers and communities
How does it work?
1 Fair Energy Bills: Wages in Australia have stagnated but electricity keeps getting more and more expensive. Something needs to give. Switching your electricity to Cooperative Power means you become a part of a not-for-profit energy cooperative that redistributes profit back to the people. It’s about making energy affordable for everyone, today and into the future.
2 Clean & Sustainable Energy: Our planet is suffering, but there are alternatives. Cooperative Power allows us to be a collective purchaser that can own the solutions we want to see. Together we can invest in community renewable energy (like solar plants, wind energy, battery storage and home energy efficiency) – and drive the change our world needs.
3 There’s a Better Way: A cooperative allows us to come together to create the world we want to live in. As a cooperative, we can take market share away from the big three energy corporations and direct it to an economy that benefits people and planet. (sourced 24/10/2022 from website https://www.cooperativepower.org.au/)
Our Mission
Cooperative Power is owned by members. Our first service is offering retail electricity with our product partner Energy Locals. They’re 100% Australian owned and share our goal of a sustainable and affordable energy future.
What is your relationship with Energy Locals?
Energy Locals is a provider making energy cheaper, cleaner, and fairer for Australia. They also support us with a retail energy service so we can participate in the retail energy market. They sit behind the scenes most of the time but their team provide the customer support and send you your bills. We both share similar values, but have different visions to achieve them. Energy Locals also provides its services for other organisations. Energy Locals’ major investor is Quinbrook Infrastructure Partner who are a progressive, renewable energy infrastructure fund.
Do you supply 100% renewable energy?
Unfortunately not, no one can. The reality is that all retailers sell electricity from an energy grid made up of both clean and dirty energy, so even if you wanted to, you can’t opt in to only buy renewable energy. We invest in community renewable energy and support GreenPower – a government accreditation scheme that lets you do a bit extra to help support new renewable generation in Australia.
Do you have GreenPower?
Yes, we support the government-accredited GreenPower program. You can choose to purchase 100%, 50% or 10% GreenPower. Read on for a more detailed background about us.
Some more background on our mission
Cooperative Power’s mission is to address the climate crisis, unprecedented and growing inequality, and a decline in civil society participation. Our co-operative solution is to do this through delivering a range of environmentally-friendly energy services and products, facilitating democratic solutions to social and environmental problems, and assisting members and the community to transition away from fossil fuels for their energy needs. Our first service is offering retail electricity with our product partner Energy Locals. Under our rules as a co-operative, we’re not allowed to make a profit, so we redirect the surplus from this service to meet our mission. During 2020, given the COVID-19 crisis we put 100% of this money to addressing the COVID-19 social crisis in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. In 2021, we built on this by building in the democratic practice of customer members proposing and voting on how we spend our electricity revenue. What we do in future years will evolve according to our collective and democratic practice.
Our Structure
CoPower (Co-operative Power Australia Limited, ABN 91 297 604 640) is a registered non-distributing co-operative. This means there are two key parts of our organisational structure. First, we are a co-operative. We run on a one member, one vote basis as opposed to a traditional corporation that runs on a one dollar, one vote basis. Second, we are not allowed to distribute any surplus from our activities to our member-owners. We have to reinvest back into the community in ways that fulfil our mission. Check out our co-operative’s rules.
Our Members. Cooperative Power is owned by members. We are made up of member organisations that themselves must be democratic, member-led organisations including community organisations, trade unions and other co-operatives.
Our current members include:
National Tertiary Education Union
Environment Victoria
The Australian Services Union (Services and Authorities VIC/Tas Branch)
The Australian Education Union
The United Workers Union
Ballarat Renewable Energy and Zero Emissions Inc
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch)
Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA
Voices of the Valley
Earthworker Cooperative
Pre-Power Coop 1
The Australian Education Union
The Surf Coast Energy Group
The Victorian Trades Hall Social Committee
Friends of the Earth Melbourne
The Energy Innovation Cooperative
Australian Unemployed Workers Union
Port Philip Energy Cooperative
The Uniting Church of Australia Vic/Tas Synod
If you’d like your organisation to join up as a member and have a democratic say in how we fulfil our mission then feel free to contact us at hello at cooperativepower dot org dot au.