The electricity retail company Aurora Energy was formed by the dis-aggregation of the Hydro Electric Commission in Tasmania, Australia, on 1 July 1998. This resulted in the division of the formerly government owned department into three companies - Hydro Tasmania which generates the power, Transend Networks which transmits it across the state, and Aurora Energy, the distribution and retail arm, which sells and distributes it to customers. This was in anticipation of Tasmania joining the National Electricity Market (NEM), which opened up the market to competitors.

In September 2004, Aurora secured naming rights to Launceston Australian rules football stadium York Park. The stadium will be known as Aurora Stadium until 2010.

In late 2005 Aurora began trialling Aurora Pay As You Go, pre-paid electricity to selected areas of Adelaide. This system involved the Payguard meter, known as a smart meter. The official launch of the product, due to the success of the trial, went ahead in May 2007 making Aurora Energy the first electricity retailer to offer the pre-payment option in South Australia. This coincided with the 10 year birthday celebration of Aurora Pay As You Go in the State of Tasmania.

[edit] National Broadband Network

Aurora Energy has been selected to construct the National Broadband Network in Tasmania. This will be a fibre to the premises (FTTP/FTTH) network connecting over of the state's 200,000 households, businesses, hospitals and schools. The network is promised to deliver speeds of 100 Megabits per second. The Tasmanian rollout is set to begin in July 2009.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Aurora Energy