Flick Electric

In 2013, in Wellington, New Zealand, founders Richard Wills and Steve O'Connor saw an opportunity to disrupt the country's established energy sector. The following year, they launched Flick Electric, a tech-based retailer with a radical idea: give consumers access to the wholesale price of electricity. Instead of a fixed rate, Flick's customers paid the spot market price, which fluctuated every half hour, plus a transparent margin. An app showed customers real-time pricing, empowering them to use appliances when power was cheapest. The model was a bold play, attracting customers tired of the big, traditional power companies. It also attracted investors, leading to a significant event in 2018 when fuel retailer Z Energy acquired a majority stake in the company. This investment was intended to help Flick scale and further challenge the incumbents. However, the direct-to-wholesale model had a critical vulnerability: price volatility. When wholesale electricity prices surged due to factors like dry winters, Flick's customers faced unexpectedly high bills. This market pressure forced the company to evolve, introducing more traditional fixed-rate plans to provide customers with more certainty. The final chapter of its independent story was written in May 2025. Z Energy sold Flick Electric to Meridian Energy, one of the very 'gentailers' it was created to disrupt, for $70 million. The acquisition marked the end of a disruptive era but underscored the inherent challenges of reshaping a deeply entrenched utility market.