Turmoil in the national energy market has forced a Queensland power retailer to the wall

A Queensland electricity retailer has collapsed as surging energy prices create difficult market conditions for small players. But there is a chance the business can be revived.

Surging prices have made it a difficult time for small energy retailers.

Turmoil in the national energy market has forced a Queensland power retailer to the wall.

Sunshine Coast-based Apex Energy Holdings Pty Ltd, trading as Apex Energy Networks, collapsed this week but there’s a chance that it may be revived.

Sole director Konstantinos Spilios, who started the business four years ago, tapped Bill Karageozis and Jonathan McLeod from McLeod & Partners in Brisbane to serve as voluntary administrators.

Mr Karageozis said surging wholesale energy prices had played a major role in the firm’s financial woes.

It’s still unclear how much is owed to creditors but he said Origin Energy was among the biggest parties chasing debts. It’s trying to recover between $300,000 and $400,000 allegedly owing.

Creditors, who are expected to hold their first meeting next week, may subsequently vote on a “deed of company arrangement’’ to revitalize the business, Mr Karageozis said.

“It’s a very difficult market,’’ he said.

Surging prices have made it a difficult time for small energy retailers.

Earlier this month Origin Energy predicted small retailers such as Apex faced dire problems as the wholesale price of electricity exceeds $400 a megawatt hour in the main states. That’s a fivefold increase from last year.

East coast spot gas prices have also soared as much as $50 a gigajoule, up from less than $10 at the start of the year.

Blame for the price surges has been pinned on an array of factors, including pandemic-tied supply chain disruptions, Russia’s assault on Ukraine and a cut in coal power output in Australia.

Mr Spilios, a 33-year-old resident of Sippy Downs, did not return a call seeking comment this week.

Launched in early 2018, Apex touted itself online as a “nimble embedded network operator’’ and a proponent of “smart technology’’.

“We harness your community power to give you the best combined energy services, design and pricing. We purchase the best bulk energy prices to minimise costs for your entire community,’’ the Apex website says.

Records show Apex has just over $2m in paid shares on issue and nearly the same amount in unpaid shares.

While a company controlled by Mr Spilios has a majority stake, three other outside investors also have a substantial holding, including Hong Kong-based Cornerstone Capital Ltd.

A separate entity created by Mr Spilios, Apex Energy Solutions Pty Ltd, remains intact and unaffected by the voluntary administration.

It’s not the first time he’s been involved in the power sector.

Corporate records reveal that Mr Spilios spent nine months until mid-2018 as a director and secretary of now-defunct Fused Energy IP Pty Ltd. That Sunshine Coast company was later wound up bycourt order in 2020.

Meanwhile, property records show a luxurious waterfront home on Minyama Island, registered in the name of Mr Spilios’s wife, Kelli-Anne Spilios, sold for almost $2m in late 2019.

She is now listed as the owner of a unit in Sippy Downs, acquired in May for $675,000.

Originally published as Turmoil in the national energy market has forced a Queensland power retailer to the wall