Meet Ben Burge, the math whiz trying to shake up the staid retail energy market with a smartphone app and a good dose of analytics.

When he is away with the family, his mother-in-law pops by discreetly to do a load of washing. Her only explanation for his seemingly clairvoyant ability to know when to send her thank-you flowers is strategically placed web cams.

Bright spark: Ben Burge is hoping consumers will want to be involved with their choice of electricity suppliers. Credit:Salona Chithiray

The truth is far more prosaic. Burge, chief executive of online retail energy challenger Powershop, knows when she's there because the company's app on his smartphone registers an unmistakeable spike in his home's energy consumption.

It's a powerful tool and one he wants to put in the hands every Australian in a bid to take on the major energy retailers with cheaper and cleaner electricity.