Has anyone done a price comparison spreadsheet for Electricity and Gas in Victoria?

johninmelb on 21/02/2014 - 10:11

I know the topic of gas and electricity comes up regularly, but there are so many postings and it is so confusing.

I saw someone in NSW had done a spreadsheet, so wondering if anyone in Vic has done a similar thing.

Also, I am currently with Energy Australia, having switched to them via a deal with American Express nearly 4 years ago. Obviously I am not getting the best deal anymore, and need to slash my household costs due to losing my job.

Does anyone know what the penalties would be to drop Energy Australia and go elsewhere? I have about 7 months left on my current 2 year contract.

Thanks

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Unorthodox on 21/02/2014 - 11:33

    In terms of comparisons, there's usually a fixed rate per retailer but if you include all the 'discounts' and 'perks' you'll need quite a detailed system.

    Best thing would be to look at the distributor and also the retailer.

    I would love if someone did this with energy like Whirlpool's internet comparisons.

    On topic:
    There are commission based comparison companies that will look for options for you if that's what you want. They'll be free.

    Not sure about that penalty rates though.

    Maybe cut down on your usage? My family's is way below usage in terms of kW/h per day but we get charged $400ish per 90 days.

    I know Origin gives you a discount for paying on time but it's not that great

    • bluedufflecoat on 21/02/2014 - 11:52

      How big is your family / house?

      We have a small apt - 1 infant, and our monthly bill is about $75 —> $225 / quarter… often it's less than that… because of pay on time discounts so my account is usually in credit. We're with Dodo.

      • Unorthodox on 21/02/2014 - 12:14

        Five members. Two adults, three teens.

        Our average daily usage 8.82kWh whereas the average for Summer with a household of 4 is 16.4kWh.

        Our total is $342.16 and pay on time credit was $14.xx

        Our house is kinda big for a one storey.

        I would say yours is quite good especially if it's providing you with savings for the future.

  • cuteseal on 21/02/2014 - 11:46

    The government has a few sites that do comparison for both gas and electricity.
    It's best if you have some past usage numbers, as it will allow you to plug the figures in and it will give you an estimated bill for each provider based on your usage and their rates.

    It also takes into account the various discounts and conditions (e.g. pay on time) and also contract lengths.

    https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au
    http://www.switchon.vic.gov.au/tools-and-calculators/my-powe…

    I used this one as I'm in Victoria:
    http://www.yourchoice.vic.gov.au/

    By all means check out the commission based ones as well like iSelect and BetterBills.com.au as they offer incentives like frequent flyer points or cashbacks, but make sure they are not jacking the prices up in some way (by comparing against the government one).

    Finally there are also some special offers from time to time (search ozbargain) - for example Dodo has $25 referral bonus, Powershop has $75 sign up offer, and SimplyEnergy has a recurring 30% discount for RACV members as opposed to the 25% they offer on their site.

  • johninmelb on 22/02/2014 - 13:43

    I am a single person household living in a small 3 bedroom unit.

    For 2013, my quarterly electricity bills ranged from $161 to $193 and my gas bills from $65 to $214 (I have gas central heating in winter)

    What pisses me off is that the service charges are way out of proportion to the usage. It is all very well for everyone to say cut back your usage. That doesn't work. As soon as you do that, they put the service charges up even more to compensate.

    Telstra started this blatant thieving a long time ago, when they kept putting call charges up and people cut back on calls. They soon twigged that lowering the call charges and raising the rental every few months fixed that problem. Now every service organisation does it.

    Comparison sites are all very well, but most only have a few companies on their books. iselect is useless for health insurance, as it does not compare ALL funds so you can make an accurate choice. Same with these energy sites.

    I realise that it would not be easy to do a spreadsheet, as they all do various deals at different times, etc, but I guess we need something basic that compares price per kw and daily service charge for each company.

    I am starting to think that all these deals mean nothing, and they all charge pretty much the same when it comes to the total bill, they just change the prices of the service charge or the kw so that it all works out the same in the end.

    • cuteseal on 22/02/2014 - 23:05

      Comparison sites are all very well, but most only have a few companies on their books

      For iSelect I definitely agree with what you said, but I found that yourchoice.vic.gov.au was pretty comprehensive. And it's a government one so you know they're not in it for profit.

      I am starting to think that all these deals mean nothing, and they all charge pretty much the same when it comes to the total bill, they just change the prices of the service charge or the kw so that it all works out the same in the end.

      And after plugging in my usage figures, it listed the monthly charges for all the different plans, after factoring in service charges, usage costs, and discounts. Worked pretty good for me…

  • johninmelb on 22/02/2014 - 14:01

    Maybe ozbargainers can post their prices here and I will put it in a spreadsheet. We all would have got letters re the latest price rises on January 1st.

    Here is mine with Energy Australia

    Electricity
    Anytime rate (c/kWh) 25.1500(ex) 27.6650(inc)
    Supply charge (c/day) 95.5000(ex) 105.0500(inc)
    (haven't included off peak as I don't have any off peak usage)

    Gas

    Winter Peak
    0-3500MJ (c/MJ) 2.2600(ex) 2.4860(inc)

    3500MJ (c/MJ) 1.4500(ex) 1.5950(inc)

    Off Peak
    0-3500MJ (c/MJ) 1.6900(ex) 1.859(inc)

    3500MJ (c/MJ) 1.3300(ex) 1.4630(inc)

    Supply Charge (c/day) 63.00(ex) 69.30(inc)

    I currently get 10% discount on electricity (which is pretty much wiped out by the GST anyway)and 7% on the gas.

    Sorry formatting a bit screwy!

  • bluedufflecoat on 28/02/2014 - 12:23

    Electricity:

    Supply charge: 88.9c ex GST, 97.79c(inc)
    Anytime rate: 29.9c ex GST, 32.89 (inc), but I get 30% off with POTD, so that's 23.023c/kWh

    Gas:
    Supply charge: 52.99c ex GST, 58.289c (inc)
    Can't really work out the gas charge (varies as there are two tiers, 52.6MJ per day and extra at a lower rate) and my total usage charge was $2.20 for TWO MONTHS!! Guess we only use gas to cook, so it's not too much. It's the supply charge that makes the bill high.

    johninmelb: do you get 10% off your whole electricity bill, or just on usage?

  • Holysmoke on 24/01/2015 - 01:27

    $75 Powershop Referral wiki: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/powershop_referral_links

  • Jenesahill on 04/12/2018 - 18:06

    I know many of the users have provided costing for the suppliers they are recommending. However, this may not be the best deal you can get without comparing the plans from multiple providers. In this case, I would recommend you to compare energy plans instead of choosing others recommendations. You can simple choose online platforms and provide your requirements they will provide you plans from their listed suppliers. A best platform for online comparison of suppliers is CheapBills: https://www.cheapbills.com.au/energy I would highly recommend you giving it a try.

  • mysterytal on 05/12/2018 - 00:29

    You need a lot of formulas in the spreadsheet.

    I have one.

    I enter the days in the billing period and the spreadsheet calculates the supply charge for the period.
    I enter the peak kWh usage and enter the off peak kWh usage and it figures out the usage cost.
    It then figures out the pay on time discount and applies it to the usage.
    I enter the kWh exported by the solar panels and it figures out what I would get back.
    It then applies some extra discounts which are very complex to calculate such as the annual electricity concession which is a 17.5% discount on the whole bill after discounts have been applied and the service to property concession which caps supply charges to be no more than the usage charge after taking into account any discounts.
    It then adds the Energy Supplement that is paid by Centrelink and then it presents the final cost to me.
    If everything is in order the final cost is usually around zero.

    It took me many hours to compile and I still refine it whenever I find a mistake but it makes it much easier to compare deals when I know that all my discounts will be taken into account correctly and not guessed at and most comparison sites do not take into account extra discounts.

    As you said you lost your job so make sure your supplier knows your health care card number and is applying the discounts and ask Centrelink to send your Energy Supplement directly to your electricity supplier.

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