Benjamin Tom explains how Electricity Monster broadened its network through regional internet providers and renewable energy retailers. By connecting electricity gas and internet services in one marketplace the company responded to customer demand while creating stronger partner relationships and a more convenient comparison experience for Australian households.
I’m Benjamin Tom, an editor and utility specialist with a strong background in energy and internet solutions. My work centers on simplifying comparison shopping for households and businesses, helping people cut through the clutter of the utility market to make smarter, more cost-effective choices. I bring a mix of market research, writing, and practical knowledge together so that customers have clear, straightforward insights when making decisions about their power, gas, and internet services. My goal is to make the complex world of utilities more understandable and approachable for everyday consumers.
Company: Electricity Monster
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Benjamin Tom: I’m Benjamin Tom, and my background is in utilities with a focus on energy and internet services. Over the years I’ve spent a great deal of time studying how the market works, comparing providers, and understanding where customers tend to get lost in the process. My role as an editor and specialist is to take all of that complexity and present it in a way that makes sense to everyday consumers. I enjoy breaking down technical details into clear explanations so people feel more confident in making choices that affect their household budgets.
Electricity Monster is built on the idea of making energy and gas comparisons straightforward. We offer a free service that helps Australians review their current plans, compare options available to them, and switch if they find a deal that suits them better. What sets us apart is how we combine practical guidance with direct support, so customers do not have to spend hours chasing down providers on their own. Our goal is to make the entire process quicker, more transparent, and less stressful for anyone who wants a fair deal on their utilities.
What was the defining moment or challenge that prompted you to pivot your business model, and how did you recognize it was time for a change?
Benjamin Tom: The turning point for us came in late 2021 when electricity prices across New South Wales and Queensland began spiking due to wholesale market volatility. Our call volume jumped by more than 40% in a single quarter, but most customers were not asking for a cheaper plan, they were asking for protection from price shocks and clear information on fixed-rate contracts. That was when I knew our comparison model, which mainly focused on the ChatGPT said:
The most important lesson I learned from that pivot is that timing and clarity matter more than scale. When you change direction, the mistake most leaders make is trying to overhaul everything at once. I learned that showing one working example with measurable proof carries more weight than presenting a full business plan. Our first bundled service test in Queensland proved that incremental progress can build real confidence across a team that is naturally cautious about change.lowest-cost plans, was no longer enough.
We shifted to include fixed-rate and renewable options in our listings, retrained our comparison team to explain plan terms in plain English, and began publishing educational guides that broke down tariff structures and hidden fees. Within six months, customer satisfaction scores improved by 27%, and retention among repeat users increased sharply, proving the change addressed a real market gap.
Can you walk us through the most significant change you made to your business model and the immediate impact it had on your company’s trajectory?
Benjamin Tom: The most significant change I made to our business model was turning Electricity Monster from a single-utility comparison platform into a bundled service marketplace. For years, we focused only on electricity and gas plans, but customer feedback kept pointing to one issue: they were tired of managing separate providers for power, gas, and internet. The process was confusing and time-consuming. I decided to rebuild our model so customers could compare and switch all three utilities through a single dashboard.
We began partnering with regional internet providers and renewable energy retailers, integrated their APIs into our system, and trained our agents to explain mixed-service bundles accurately. The first launch was in Queensland with three ISPs and two renewable suppliers. Within three months, bundled plan sign-ups increased our average commission per customer by 42%, while repeat user activity rose by 31%. The expansion immediately positioned us as a broader utility marketplace rather than a niche broker.
How did you convince your team, investors, or stakeholders to embrace such a dramatic shift, especially if it involved risk or uncertainty?
Benjamin Tom: What I did to convince my team to support the change was to show them evidence that could not be ignored. I started by pulling six months of customer data from our CRM and call center logs. Thousands of customers were asking about internet bundles and solar options, but our old model only handled electricity and gas. I created a detailed report that broke down those conversations, showing that almost half of our callers wanted multi-service comparisons. Seeing the data in their own performance dashboards made the need for change real to them.
To manage the fear of disruption, I proposed a small pilot. We ran it in Queensland with three energy partners and two internet providers. I personally handled the onboarding and shadowed the agents for the first week to make sure nothing broke. When the pilot produced a 27% increase in completed sign-ups and higher satisfaction scores, everyone understood that expanding the model was the right direction.
What was the biggest obstacle you faced during the pivot, and how did you overcome it to ensure the new model’s success?
Benjamin Tom: The biggest obstacle I faced during the pivot was the technical and operational strain of integrating new service providers into a system originally built only for electricity and gas comparisons. Our backend was never designed to handle multiple utility APIs with different data formats, billing structures, and contract rules. The moment we tried adding internet plans, the system began producing mismatched data—customers were seeing prices that did not sync with provider systems, and it damaged confidence fast.
I fixed this by forming a cross-functional task group made up of developers, account managers, and compliance officers. We spent four weeks rewriting the core API logic and introducing a validation layer that automatically checked data accuracy against live provider feeds every 30 minutes. At the same time, I worked closely with partners to standardize data mapping templates. Once we stabilized the platform, accuracy improved to 99.6%, call escalations dropped by half, and new provider onboarding time was cut from 18 days to 6.
Looking back, what’s one key lesson from your pivot experience that you’d share with other CEOs considering a major business model shift?
Benjamin Tom: The most important lesson I learned from that pivot is that timing and clarity matter more than scale. When you change direction, the mistake most leaders make is trying to overhaul everything at once. I learned that showing one working example with measurable proof carries more weight than presenting a full business plan. Our first bundled service test in Queensland proved that incremental progress can build real confidence across a team that is naturally cautious about change.
