In order to be eligible to apply for the Program your start-up must:
The short answer is indefinitely at this stage. We are always on the lookout for interesting ideas that have potential to make energy easier and smarter for our customers. We will be offering three applicants an opportunity to present to an executive panel once every two months. If you are selected, we will be in touch to provide all the important details and help you prepare for the panel.
There is no application fee. Ideally, you will be able to leverage existing materials where possible, but try draw out how it could relate to our business and customers.
We are not asking for professionally produced content but we do want to know why your idea would make energy easier and smarter for Origin customers. A video filmed on a mobile device is perfect – we want to know about your idea, not your video production skills!
We will aim to choose three successful applicants every eight weeks for the executive panel pitches. Please ensure that your contact details are up to date as we will reach you by phone or email or both. Please let us know in advance and in your application if there would be any reason why you would not be available on short notice for an executive panel pitch.
We get many expressions of interest and it can be hard to provide comprehensive feedback to all applicants. However, if we have any specific feedback, we will certainly try to share it.
Yes, but please provide a detailed explanation of what has changed since your previous application. We get quite a few submissions via various channels so be clear if you have changed direction completely.
Yes, absolutely! We have designed Originate as an initiative that should be thought of as a complement to existing programs which support startups as they scale.
We offer a channel to have your idea reviewed by a potential strategic partner (that’s us!) and for the right companies, we’ll work with you to trial or directly deploy your solutions.
If your solution has potential, the possibilities are endless. We could ask to trial your product/service, work with you to co-develop a bespoke solution for Origin (to which we may contribute funding or in-house expertise) or you may be trying to raise funds and want Origin to be part of your growth trajectory.
We understand the importance of intellectual property and want to ensure you protect the know-how unique to your business. If discussions progress in such a way that we want to work with you on a pilot or co-develop a product or solution, then we will enter into a confidentiality agreement and ensure that your IP is protected.
Yes, please do! We regularly work with start-ups overseas and geographic location is no barrier to working with us if you have a good idea. We’ll find a way to make it work regardless of where you are based.
Great question! The entire energy landscape is changing rapidly – where centralised power stations used to generate all electricity, we are transitioning to a decentralised system, with incredible levels of rooftop solar, batteries and demand side management in use.
To effectively balance supply and demand in real time, we will need to employ new technologies and data driven solutions in ways previously never contemplated.
With more than four million customers across the residential, commercial & industrial and utility markets for services such as electricity, gas, hot water, energy storage, solar, electric vehicles and LPG, we are looking for ideas that deliver cleaner, smarter and easier energy for all our customers.
We will continue to update this page as we get new questions, but if there is something not covered here, please contact us via originate@originenergy.com.au and we’ll do our best to assist. Please note that we will not be accepting any applications received via this email address and kindly request that you complete the application form instead.
Once you start your application you will need to keep the window open and complete it in one session, as you cannot save and re-open partially complete application. We recommend starting your application in a separate document and submitting it all at once when you are happy with it.
