Hasn't been a recent post in a while. I'm based in SA, looking to move to the Southern Suburbs.
Currently with Origin for Gas/Water and AGL for Electricity.
SA pays through the nose as we tend to rent electricity from Victoria so our rates are much higher.
Who are you with? Any positive experiences you'd like to share?
Cheers in advance.
The Sun.
AGL. No.
Was with origin until about 2 years ago for gas and electricity in Adelaide. Never any problems with them. We'll maybe one. But anyway. Was moving house, so spent some time reverse engineering the bill. I wanted to be able to exactly calculate it correctly, then use that to compare average current or future usage with different providers.
AGL came out best with discounts, so I switched to them. You just have to watch out for the end of the discount term or you'll get slugged! Apart from that, my experience with AGL has been good. In SA at least (last time I looked), if you look at the standing offers, you find they're almost all exactly the same, some are presented differently to confuse. Then the $/kWh, supply charge and discounts are different for extra f.u.
Have to admit, moving from an inefficient 1 bed unit to a very efficient 3 need house with way more white goods, was not a massive leap in bills, though i can only partially attribute this to better discounts. If your bill is v high, think about what electrical items can be replaced.
I'm in Adelaide, in the southern suburbs. My builder signed me up with Origin. Decent prices, but make sure you select a plan, otherwise they put you on the default highest possible price that expires in the year 9999. No, seriously!
I recently looked at quite a few energy providers but have chosen to stay with Origin. Their 10c solar FIT can't be beaten (in SA), and their electricity prices are within a cent of the cheapest offer I could find.
One thing I am really sick of is the difficulty in comparing plans. I don't want to know the headline discount rate. It's meaningless. Alinta offers a 32% discount, but their power prices are so high it's more expensive than Origin's plan with 'only' a 10% discount. Some plans offer cheap prices, but only for the first few kWh per day. Pointless.
I think energy is the only product I can think of where the more you buy the more expensive it gets per unit. Every other product is cheaper in bulk.
I guess you probably already used the site, but it could be useful.
https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au
Getting a little power meter and monitoring usage can also be fun. It might be worth getting a new fridge, freezer, a/c or water heater and it is good to know about other appliances.
I have had a look at that site and it was somewhat helpful, but ultimately I was looking for a combination of both low power prices with the highest possible solar FIT. Everyone offers 6.8c while Origin does 10c, and I think Diamond Energy (from memory) did 12c but the power prices were higher.
Regarding power meters, I've been using one for years and it's interesting to see what's gobbling up power around the house. My first power meter didn't correct for Power Factor, so gave hilariously inaccurate readings for electronic equipment (generally far too low).
Energy providers have all piled into this strange notion that you should get a discount for 'paying on time' and 'paying by direct debit'. I don't deal with any other business that gives me 30% off for paying on time.
This is the exact same issue I have is it seems that each provider has different measurements of energy output per calculation. So I thought it would be best to listen to personal experience from fellow OzBargainers.
Unless you change your meter your kwh should not vary. The different cost comes from the different tariffs.
The government provides an online guide.
www.sa.gov.au/topics/energy-and-environment/energy-bills/
Also they are not really providers in SA, but retailers. So the product they offer is the same.
All Great Liars (AGL) just sent me an email telling me about a price rise on 1 July. Website was just a bunch of BS about factors which cause prices to rise, including wait for it - the great green energy scam.
Hopped onto chat to find out by how much.
Q1. How much? We won't tell you that, but here's a link where you can find out the new rates in a week.
Q2. Yes but what % is the rise? See question 1.
Not sure if I can add links here, but a quick google search shows that the wholesale cost of electricity will be passed on to consumers, yeah definitely not going with AGL. There seems to be positive reviews about Click Energy, although it seems wherever you go, prices will increase from July 1st.
Be very careful with Powershop.
Check every bill.
I was overcharged for several months and although they knew it,would not adjust the bills correctly.
Left for an honest firm and handed the matter to EWOV.
Took a few weeks,however got my money back without any argument :)
How can you be overcharged if you monitor your usage and rates? I would be very remiss if I did not keep an eye on it. And to go months using powershop without monitoring it - I don't get it.
I purchased at 33% off,yet they only actually discounted by 18%.
Amongst other shifty things.
I picked them up on the first month,yet that did not deter them.
They knew exactly what they were doing.
SA is the most expensive state in Australia for electricity, that operates under an open market system. Only TAS is more expensive (but their rates are as set across the state).
Gee I wonder why?
I am with powershop their rates were better than AGL which were not bad. And if you pay ahead you get discounts too.
Powershop is designed for you to take control of your electricity usage and costs. You can pick up cheaper power specials and learn more about your power usage. It only takes a few seconds a month to monitor, manage and save on your electricity costs. Do it from your PC, tablet or from our world first energy utility app on your smartphone.
A few seconds a month …. ROFL!
Takes a lot longer to attempt getting the overcharges back.
Quite frankly it took EWOV to do it.
Click Energy were the cheapest last time I checked. Use my referal :D