Rent.com.au Enters Partnership with Origin Energy

Rent.com.au, Australia's foremost renting-only portal, has joined up with electricity giant Origin Energy.

Under the terms of the deal, Rent.com.au customers will now get electricity and gas services from Origin through its RentConnect product as well as 'Bill Smoothing'.

The deal runs for an initial 24 months, with Rent.com.au receiving a commission every time a customer signs up for one of Origin's plans.

Rent.com.au will return a portion of its commissions to customers in the form of a $100 gift card.

Greg Bader, CEO at Rent.com.au, said:

"This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the growth prospects of the company.

"Not only is Origin one of the largest electricity and gas retailers in the country, powering millions of households, but importantly for us they recognise and value the uniqueness of our renting community."

"We have always preferred a single partner model because it means we can provide a seamless experience and negotiate great deals for our customers."

Rent.com.au recorded an 8% increase in revenues year on year this January despite a listings slowdown.

Meanwhile, Origin Electricity recently made news for all the wrong reasons when it was ordered by the Federal Court of Australia to pay more than $17 million in penalties after the company breached its obligations to customers facing financial hardship.

More than 90,000 customers were affected when Origin failed to correctly identify and support customers struggling to keep up with payments, with some households being prematurely disconnected from the grid by Origin before being offered alternative payment options.