"The fact that KEPCO is exploring the Power Ledger platform as a solution is a massive indication that the industry has accepted that change is inevitable," Mr Martin said.

"The energy industry is traditionally conservative, and rightly so. When they implement changes consumers are relying on them to be certain it's the right direction. It's just a growing recognition of distributed energy resources as opposed to traditional utility systems managing energy."

KEPCO said the deal with Power Ledger was a sign of the changing nature of energy systems from large-scale to self-sustainable renewable models.

"And in [the] future, there is a possibility that power will be directly traded between the renewable energy generator and the power consumer," KEPCO said in a statement.

Primary students at Rongamai Primary School, Auckland, which has been provided with a Tesla battery by Vector and is participating in one of the Power Ledger energy trading trial. Supplied

Mr Martin said big utility companies were still a bit suspicious about new technology, such as distributed energy resources, but understood this was how the energy network was changing as more renewables replace traditional energy sources such as coal-fired power.

But Mr Martin said there was many customers who had installed expensive solar PV systems or battery who were frustrated they weren't able to get a bigger saving on their energy bills apart from the feed-in tariffs offered by their energy company.

"Premium feed-in tariffs just aren't sustainable and consumers are seeing that wash away and feeling the unfair nature of having to sell energy back into the grid for 6 cents only to have to buy back at 28 or 29 cents later that night," Mr Martin said.


"Power Ledger allows them to monetise their capacity in a way they haven't been able to before and them provides a way for them to stay connected and reduce their energy costs in the future."

Australians have embraced renewable energy, such as roof-top solar and battery storage, with some of the highest penetration of solar PV in the world. But as many customers attempt to go "off-grid" - or at least to reduce their reliance on the grid - it can threaten the traditional business model of big centralised power companies who rely on network charges.

"The industry used to twitch when we first started talking about peer-to-peer trading saying 'that's not how the system works'," he said.

"But it is coming around to the notion of distributed renewables or distributed energy supplies because of the resilience they provide as well. You now have cities such as New York who are actively looking at DERs [distributed energy resources] as a way of mitigating the effects of climate change."

Power Ledger, which raised $34 million in Australia's first homegrown cryptocurrency initial public offering in October last year, uses the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies to allow households, community organisations and businesses to trade their surplus solar energy with each other at rates that exceed the low feed-in tariffs offered by must utilities.

The company, chaired by former JP Morgan banker Jemma Green, works with utilities who provide the distribution system to support the trading - an example of some of the new approaches incumbent energy companies are experimenting with to try and catch up with and benefit from the energy revolution that has upended business models based on the traditional one-way centralised grid.

Power Ledger already has a handful of commercial deployments in Australia, including an $8 million project in the Fremantle, WA, and plans for a 250 megawatt housing development north of Perth. They are also working on projects in the United States, where the company has teamed up with Helpanswers, a non-profit founded by a former US Department of Energy and IBM executive to accelerate the roll-out of clean energy.

Mr Martin said the national electricity rules need to be tweaked to deal with new technology platforms such as peer-to-peer trading. "It could be made better with changes to the rules," he said.