Essential Energy partners with Kraken to build the next generation system for network billing
Essential Energy, one of Australia’s largest electricity network service providers, is innovating with Kraken to revolutionise the way it serves utilities on its distribution network
First electricity customer goes live on Kraken within four months of project start
Essential Energy’s water division is also adopting the Kraken’s best-in-class customer platform
Port Macquarie, New South Wales – 21st October 2025 – Essential Energy, one of Australia’s largest distribution network service providers (DNSP), has partnered with Kraken to revolutionise the way it serves utilities that use its network.
Leveraging their respective expertise and capabilities, the two companies are developing an innovative platform that is modernising the way DNSPs serve utilities and customers, to meet the needs of an increasingly flexible and dynamic energy system.
Essential Energy has successfully migrated its first customer onto the Kraken platform within four months of the project’s start.
The partnership marks the launch of Kraken Distribution – a purpose-built platform for network operators – extending Kraken operating system to the full energy value chain: generation, distribution and retail.
Increasingly, Essential Energy’s network hosts generation, through utility-scale renewables, rooftop solar and storage. This shift to a decentralised grid generates a growing volume of complex data, making accurate and timely billing more challenging and driving the need for innovative tariff and pricing solutions that reflect changes in energy consumption.
Essential Energy operates a network footprint covering 95 per cent of New South Wales and part of Southern Queensland, delivering safe and reliable power for over 900,000 customers.
Kraken is already contracted to serve over 70 million customer accounts through existing partnerships with major utility retailers such as National Grid, Origin and Tokyo Gas.
Essential Energy’s water retail business, Essential Water is also adopting Kraken, modernising its customer billing system. This marks Kraken’s first step into the international water business. Kraken already serves nearly 20% of all water accounts in the UK.
Amir Orad, CEO of Kraken, says: “It’s fantastic to welcome Essential Energy on board as we mark two hugely exciting milestones on our mission to revolutionise global utilities. We now serve grid operators, expanding our operating system to cover the entire energy value chain with a purpose-built distribution management platform. And our water business has expanded outside of the UK, taking its first steps on the international stage. And despite these two firsts, we are already live with the first customers of both in a matter of weeks”
John Cleland, CEO, Essential Energy and Essential Water, says: “We are looking
forward to working collaboratively with Kraken to deliver our innovative and modern customer-centric platform that will deliver an improved customer experience and significant operational efficiencies. This partnership represents an incredible opportunity for Essential Energy to build industry leading software solutions with a global technology leader that can be utilised in new ways to benefit customers across the distribution sector globally as the energy transition continues.”
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About Essential Energy
Essential Energy builds, operates and maintains one of Australia’s largest electricity distribution networks, servicing more than 900,000 customers across regional, rural and remote communities.
The network footprint covers 95 per cent of New South Wales and parts of southern Queensland, traversing 737,000 square kilometres of diverse landscape from the desert to the coast, across alpine to sub-tropical.
Delivering safe and reliable power for our communities is at the core of what we do and through innovation and technology, we are actively supporting the energy transition by inspiring and enabling the network of the future.
Essential Energy’s footprint includes 1.4 million power poles and traverses over 737,000km2 of network footprint.
https://essentialenergy.com.au
About Kraken
Kraken is the world’s only proven, end-to-end platform for utilities’ digitalization and transformation, trusted by global energy giants like EDF Energy, E.ON Next, Octopus Energy, Origin and Tokyo Gas.
Headquartered in London and New York, Kraken is contracted to manage over 70 million customer accounts, as well as the world’s largest virtual power plant of residential assets, and Europe's largest grid-scale battery.
The platform’s advanced data, AI and machine learning capabilities automate much of the energy supply chain to allow outstanding service and efficiency. These advances have redefined the utilities sector, driving a 30-fold increase in new product innovations for partners, top consumer rankings and hundreds of millions of dollars in operational savings.
Kraken’s cloud-based architecture is uniquely adaptable and scalable, proven by an unparalleled track record in seamless, extremely fast on-time migrations and enabling its successful expansion into water and other verticals.