Part of a 3-part ownership series
This guide covers electricity. See also who owns your gas retailer and who owns your internet provider.
How to check any provider yourself, in under 2 minutes
Ownership changes more often than you'd think, three of the brands below changed hands in just the last year. Don't trust a static list (including this one, eventually). Here's the actual method.
- Read the "who we are" or investor page. ASX-listed companies (AGL, Origin) must disclose their listing and major shareholders. A brand with no investor page is privately held or a subsidiary, keep going.
- Search "[company] parent company" or "[company] ACN" on Google. Every Australian company has an ACN you can look up free on the ASIC register, which shows who actually holds it.
- Check the AER's retailer register. The Australian Energy Regulator's authorisation register lists every licensed electricity retailer and its registered corporate name, useful for spotting a trading name like "Powershop" that's actually a Shell subsidiary.
- Being ASX-listed isn't the same as being Australian owned. A listing tells you where the shares trade, not who holds them.
Electricity retailer ownership, checked October 2026
| Retailer | Ownership | Parent / structure |
|---|---|---|
| AGL Energy | Australian | ASX-listed (AGL), broadly held, no controlling shareholder |
| Origin Energy | Australian | ASX-listed (ORG), broadly held, roughly 55% retail/individual investors |
| Energy Locals | Australian | Acquired by Origin Energy, around November 2025 (was independent Australian owned before that) |
| 1st Energy | Australian | Acquired by Origin Energy, around February 2026 |
| Red Energy | Australian | Snowy Hydro Ltd, 100% Commonwealth Government owned |
| Lumo Energy | Australian | Snowy Hydro Ltd (same parent as Red Energy) |
| Momentum Energy | Australian | Hydro Tasmania, 100% Tasmanian Government owned |
| Ergon Energy Retail | Australian | Queensland Government owned (regulated QLD retailer) |
| Arcline by RACV | Australian | RACV, member-owned Victorian motoring club. The licensed retailer named on Arcline's website is EL Retail Energy Pty Ltd, the Energy Locals retail entity, so check the retailer named on your bill |
| Dodo Power & Gas | Australian | Vocus Group, owned by Macquarie Asset Management and Aware Super (both Australian) |
| Amber Electric | Australian | Privately held, Melbourne founded |
| EnergyAustralia | Foreign | CLP Group, Hong Kong |
| Alinta Energy | Foreign | Sembcorp Industries, Singapore (acquisition completed June 2026, was Chow Tai Fook, Hong Kong) |
| ENGIE (was Simply Energy) | Foreign | ENGIE SA, France |
| Shell Energy | Foreign | Shell plc, UK/Netherlands |
| Powershop | Foreign | Shell plc (same parent as Shell Energy since 2022) |
| OVO Energy | Australian | AGL Energy, which took full ownership in April 2024 (the OVO brand is licensed from OVO Group, UK). OVO Energy Pty Ltd still holds its own AER retail authorisations as at October 2026 |
"Australian" includes federal, state and member-owned entities as well as ASX-listed and private Australian companies. Not on this list: Simply Energy no longer exists as a trading brand, it has rebranded to ENGIE. Synergy (WA) is Western Australian Government owned and sits outside the National Electricity Market.
Our take: ownership rarely changes what you pay
Across the live government pricing feed, Red Energy and Lumo (both Snowy Hydro, 100% government owned) average $1,902 a year on their published plans. The rest of the market averages $1,912, a $10 difference. Ownership tells you who profits from your bill, not whether you're getting a good deal, check the plan on its own numbers.
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