Origin Energy : Helping customers move home quicker and easier

Australians lose more than half a year of their lives moving home, and almost another half a year on the phone waiting on hold, according to new research from Origin Energy.

'This new research from Origin shows that more than three quarters of Australians feel like moving home is one of life's most stressful events,' says Kate Christie, a time management expert and Director of Time Stylers.

'Where and how we choose to live is an important decision, and we invest a lot of time in the process, so anything that can help give people back some extra time and make it easier will be helpful.

'To reduce stress, it's key for movers to streamline, be as efficient as possible, and work out where time savings are to be had.'

The average amount of time invested in each home move equates to more than 16 working days - which when multiplied by an average 13 moves per lifetime equals 208 days spent moving home across a lifetime.

Origin's research also reveals that when connecting services to their new property - the majority of people (57.8 per cent) prefer to contact their service provider via phone.

However, the same research reveals that Australians can expect to spend an average of 133 working days during their lifetime on hold to different service providers and retailers.

'Being on hold is one of the worst forms of dead time,' adds Kate Christie.

To help streamline the moving process and give customers some time back - Origin will tomorrow launch a range of new and improved services to make moving faster and easier.

For customers calling 13 MOVE to arrange energy for their move, Origin promises customers will be able to speak to a real person within two minutes or they will receive a $50 credit on their first bill after they move. For customers who choose to move online, they can organise their move in minutes.

Origin will also commence seven-day-a-week phone support for people moving home, next business day electricity connection for moves, and SMS alerts to keep customers updated on the progress of their home energy connection.

'We've been listening to what's important to our customers when they move home, and our two minute call promise will help make moving house quicker and easier,' says Jon Briskin, General Manager, Retail, Origin.

Kate Christie's Top 5 Time Management Tips when you move home:

1. In source - don't do all the work yourself. Divide up the moving jobs between all household members. Moving is a team sport!
2. Your time is money - work out your personal hourly rate. With this sum in mind, identify the jobs you are happy to pay someone else to do for you either because it will be cheaper or they will do a better job than you.
3. Outsource - there are plenty of moving tasks you can outsource, including: packing; cleaning the house you are leaving; cleaning the new house; moving your possessions; unpacking.
4. Be smart - streamline your tasks. For example, don't go to every open for inspection in your area of interest. Rather, when you search online look at all the photos, the floor plan, the streetscape and then make a short list of the top three properties you want to visit.
5. Batch - batch similar tasks together and do them all at once. This will allow you to focus on one type of job for a longer period of time (making it one larger task), as well as eliminating down-time when you jump in and out of lots of little tasks. For example, block time to call all your service providers in one batch. Or, better still - block time to get online and manage the process yourself.

About the research

All survey results are from Pure Profile online research conducted in November 2016 of a representative sample of 1,000 Australian residents aged 18 and above who have moved home in the past 5 years and identified as one of the primary decision makers in that move process.

Summary of how the average number of days for moving home and time spent on hold have been calculated:

• 208 days of moving per lifetime = the average number of days nominated by respondents for their last house move of 16 days (where a day is equivalent to an 8 hour working day) multiplied by the average number of house moves per respondent (both past and projected) since the age of 18 - which averaged out at 13 moves per lifetime
• 133 days of their life on hold = The average time nominated by all respondents for how long they spend on hold each week was 19.2 minutes, which equates to 998.4 minutes per year (or 16.64 hours). Based on the average Australian life expectancy is 82.1 years (minus the first 18 years of our life), then this equates to 1,066.62 hours over an adult lifetime. This is equivalent to 133.32 days (where a day is equivalent to an 8 hour working day).

For residential customers only. Applies to first call only to 13 MOVE to arrange energy for their move. Only applies to calls made during opening hours, and excludes public holidays. Not available in all areas or for new properties. $50 credit (including GST) will be applied to first bill after move.

Customers need to contact Origin before 1pm Monday - Friday excluding public holidays. Residential electricity customers only who provide safe access to the electricity meter. Not available in all areas or for new properties.