Electricity Bill Shot up by a Whopping ~30%. Can Anything Be Done?

abargainer on 24/06/2017 - 15:37
Last edited 27/06/2017 - 11:08 by 1 other user

Today I received my electricity bill for the last month… I was shocked to see almost 30% jump in the per KWH rate in my bill.
The energy provider, in a reply to my mail asking for reason of such a hike said as per the normal industry practice, all their customers are now charged with this hike.

Isn't 30% hike way too much..specially when the economy & my salary doesn't even grow in double digits every year? Any ideas to tackle this problem?

Note: My apartment is in some electricity grid, and it seems I can't change my provider.

Edit : My Electricity provider is https://www.benergy.com.au/ and I do have a meter ID but cannot shift to another provider for some reason.

After going through the comments, it seems we are at the mercy of these companies and nothing much can be done except paying for what is asked :(. Anyways … thanks a lot for all the opinions and comments.

Home & Garden

Comments

      • Wallyt99 on 26/06/2017 - 05:25
        +1

        There is also an additional reason which I forgot - but broadly as I underatand it the nuclear plant cant be too far from the grid. I'm not sure the reason exactly - but that is why most nuclear plants are situated closer than ideal to population areas (the alternative is industrial areas). Obviously if it were possible all nuclear would be situated far far away.

    • horsome on 26/06/2017 - 13:33

      Sadly the horse has bolted on this one - because we have never built a large scale one, it would take forever and cost mega-$$$$ to build it, let alone run it. Should have been down this road in the 80s/90s.

      Such a shame as we have a broad abundance of uranium and we have no idea on how to add value to it.

      • Mad Max on 26/06/2017 - 15:41
        -2

        Should have been down this road in the 80s/90.

        Yes like they did in Russia at Chernobyl and in Japan at Fukushima.
        Yes I know that there are a lot of other nuclear plants that have been working fine, but unfortunately "sh@t happens" and nuclear sh@t is very unforgiving and catastrophic when it happens.
        Yes they could build the nuclear plant far away in the outback, but first you need huge amounts of water to cool it and second high voltage powerlines are very expensive and the longer the line, the more the power losses.

        • Antikythera on 27/06/2017 - 11:41
          +1

          Australia would have been one of the best countries in the world for nuclear power. We are both geologically and politically stable. We have vast coastlines. We have rich uranium deposits. One of our scientists developed a way to safely dispose of waste in the late 1970's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synroc and a huge inland area suited to this method of disposal.

          We just never had the political will to implement it.

        • Mad Max on 27/06/2017 - 15:41

          @antikythera:
          Australia may be one of the best countries in the world for nuclear power, but the fact that accidents can and do happen is also true.
          And sometimes accidents happen regardless of how precise and accurate the control processes are.
          I think it is safe to say that Japan could probably be trusted for safety record and rigorous compliance.
          But still Fukushima happened and they are still dealing with the aftermath. And they probably will for many years to come.
          Now you have contries like India building nuclear power plants.
          We have witnessed the complete shambles the construction for the Olympics was…

        • Antikythera on 28/06/2017 - 07:04

          Japan is up there with California and Indonesia as one of the most geologically unstable regions of the world. It is a terrible place to build a nuclear plant.

  • ITveteran on 25/06/2017 - 21:28
    +11

    This country is sick. People are screwed by idiots on power. We are a big country rich in natural resources and energy. We export natural gas but now we have to pay electric rate higher than energy imported countries such as China.

    I work for the government and I know it's administered by idiotic beaurocratics. They malmanage the agencies and waste huge amount of public funds. So sad to see Australia is being destroyed by those fvcking idiots!

    • Lil B on 25/06/2017 - 22:01

      I thougherly agree.

      But let's be honest here; What can we do?

      • edy4eva on 25/06/2017 - 22:28
        +4

        Begin an OzProtest, imagine what could be possible if that gets the momentum of some OzBargained deals!

      • dogboy on 26/06/2017 - 10:50
        +1

        Not voting the Liberal or Labour party in would be a start. Time to shake things up.

        • machej on 28/06/2017 - 20:30

          or Greens. Don't vote for the 3 majors.

  • Cluster on 25/06/2017 - 22:59

    I signed up for a 12 month energy plan with Origin in April. The price was stated on the contract. Does anyone know if the price gets reset higher from 1 July? Origin's web site is not giving me an answer.

    If prices can be locked in then I recommend everyone choose a new plan before 1 July. At least it will delay the pain.

    • dufflover on 26/06/2017 - 10:17

      heh funnily enough I never thought price locking for utilities would be a good idea, at least in our case where we don't have much usage and it's a bit different to say pre-paying insurance yearly since that's a fixed price product.
      But with a 30% price hike you'd be counting your luck if you just signed up for a good lock in rate before that decision.

  • nikey2k27 on 25/06/2017 - 23:39

    I miss 90 per 3 months bills went first move into unit 9 years ago now weill over 600 now sadly

  • OzbLaz on 26/06/2017 - 00:48

    This is purely based on my research and my own personal experience dealing with gas and electricity providers. Also I didn't read all the posts above sorry if I duped the comments. If I'm wrong feel free to correct me, I'd like to learn more about this too.

    First of all, my understanding is the electricity grid is not the same as electricity seller. Eg my local grid is Aus Grid but my electricity seller is AGL and I could sign up with others. You sign up with a seller who sends electricity to you via your local grid. So you might be able to change to a different seller. Do a search on other company's to see if you can sign up with anyone else.

    Secondly, ask for discounts. Now every area is different, so the level of discount might be different. I get a total of 28% discount off my electricity "usage rate" and 20% off my gas "usage rate". I simpler asked a few different company for a discount and this is the best I get.

    Now the discounts, not all discounts are the same, hence the quote marks above. Some gives you discount off the usage charge and some off the total charge, which is usage plus supply charge. I have not come across one that gives discount on supply charge alone. Sometimes low discount % might be better if it is discounted off the total price. some company sets a very low usage rate and high supply charge and gives your high discount rate which isn't as good as low discount off higher total price. You need to ask clear how the discount is applied.

    Thirdly, and I don't know if this can be done, is I found that there are many different energy plans provided by each seller. Not sure if this varies by region or grid and not sure if you can pick and choose. There are peak rate, off peak rate, rate charge by usage, flat rate etc. it might be worth the effort to have some ideas about what time you use the most electricity and how much you use and see if you can choose a plan that gives you a better rate during the time you use most of your electricity. I didn't look into this because I was happy with discount I was getting.

    Lastly, don't be afraid of longer term contract for higher discount. The price are only going up and once your sign up for a term the price is locked for the term. And make sure you ask if there are penalty for cancelling the contract before the contract end date. Most of the providers I talk to told me there are no charges or penalty for cancelling early. Therefore this give your flexibility to switch if there are better rates you can find.

    Governments privatised the electricity and gas market hoping the competition would keep the price low but clearly they have failed. Therefore it is up to the consumers to keep asking for better rates and switching to keep the competition high.

    Good luck.

    • harkoliar on 26/06/2017 - 09:10

      Nice, I switched from dodo to Alinta because of the 25% discount they are offering me in nsw. No lock in contract as well.

    • wannagrababargain on 26/06/2017 - 12:29

      The price are only going up and once your sign up for a term the price is locked for the term. And make sure you ask if there are penalty for cancelling the contract before the contract end date.

      It's not a sure thing that the price is locked in, read your contracts closer. All 'fixed term/locked in' market retail contracts I have seen have a default clause which states "we may vary our rates from time to time."

  • ruriruri on 26/06/2017 - 02:08
    +2

    I guess they are trying to kill EVs. No more Tesla for me.

    • Kangal on 26/06/2017 - 08:16
      +1

      I think people might start using their Tesla's like a Powerwall in the near future…

      • Antikythera on 27/06/2017 - 11:47
        +2

        fill it up for free in the office parking spot and drive it home to power the house while you cook dinner.

  • wty707 on 26/06/2017 - 08:52
    +23

    There's a little bit of misinformation as to what's causing these power price rises floating around this thread. I've done a bit of work around the industry so I thought I'd have a crack at trying to clear up a few misconceptions. Basically there are four components to the power price - the generation cost, the transmission cost, the distribution cost and the retailer's cost/profit. These used to all be combined before privatisation but they're now all done by separate entities.

    Generation

    These are the guys that actually make the power. Brown/black coal, gas, hydro, wind, solar, etc. The important thing to understand is how these guys price their power. In the National Electricity Market (VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS) (NEM), generators bid the cost that they're willing to generate a unit of power for each 5 minute interval throughout the day. The guys who operate the NEM (AEMO), then pick the lowest bids that satisfy the demand. E.g. 15,000 Mw bid, 10,000 demand, the cheapest 10,000 get used. Then all 10,000 will get the cost that the 10,000th Mw bid (the marginal generator). The important thing to note here is that solar and wind always bid in. They have a $0 Short Run Marginal Cost (SRMC), so might as well always bid in as they have no fuel costs. Brown and black coal typically are always used as well as they're both very cheap to run (not to build, they cost a shitload). Generally the marginal generator is a gas plant as these are quick stop/start high cost generators. At the moment, Australia has a bit of a gas shortage due to all of the LNG plants on Curtis Island shipping off most of the gas under contract at below the price they could get domestically. This means that the marginal generator is costing a fair bit more than it used to, driving up the costs. Loading more renewables into the mix would actually reduce the price (security concerns aside), as these would displace some of the high cost gas. This is all obviously complicated by the closure of some of the big coal plants (Northern, Hazelwood, etc.), taking out large chunks of the supply from the NEM and driving up prices.

    Transmission & distribution (T&D)

    Transmission is the big high voltage wires (e.g. Transgrid in NSW, AusNet in VIC), distribution is the power poles you see outside (e.g. Ausgrid, Endeavour, Essential in NSW, CitiPower/PowerCor in VIC). These guys are monopolies and are heavily regulated. Every 5 years they make a submission to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) as to what they think they should be allowed to charge calculated as recovering what they've spent + earning a return on the capital they've invested. The AER and the T&D guys then have an argument as to what they should really charge and it gets appealed to a tribunal then the Federal Court who ultimately decide. Malcolm has decided he doesn't like this appeals process and wants the AER's decisions to be binding.

    Over the last 5 years, demand has flatlined but T&D guys have kept building (and earning a return on what they build i.e. increasing prices). Basically they want to make sure there are no blackouts. Blackouts happen when the infrastructure can't cope with the demand. So at 6pm on a 42 degree day when everyone is cranking their air conditioning (peak demand), the load is huge, and the T&D guys build to handle this load. This means for the other 364 days and 23/24 hours of the year, the infrastructure is sitting at less than full capacity. But we're all still paying for that one day. That's why it's so important to get peak demand down and why we should all pay peak demand tariffs but everyone whinges too much to allow this to happen.

    Retail

    I know less about these guys, but basically they buy a certain amount out of the NEM and sell it to consumers. They take a profit margin on the way through. I understand this profit margin has expanded a little in recent years however this is only a small fraction of the price increases everyone has seen.

    TLDR

    Costs going up is because gas prices are high and because transmission and distribution have invested a shitload of money into networks that are used for 1 hour a year. It has nothing to do with renewables (these lower costs as they're free to run once they're built).

    • Porco Rosso on 26/06/2017 - 09:54

      Thanks for the great detailed info.

    • BensonP on 26/06/2017 - 10:27
      +1

      This bloke is spot on.

      Millions and millions are being spent on the transmission network as we speak. Richmond, Brunswick (just finished), West Melbourne are HUGE station rebuilds.

    • alisso on 26/06/2017 - 11:09

      I used to work for a combined network/retailer in NSW (before the government started selling off the retail), and this is correct.

      It should also be noted, however, that the government spent years capping the sell price of electricity in order to win votes. In this time, the networks struggled to stay functional, there was no money for upgrades, because the government wouldn't allow them to raise the prices (again, this was in the stage when the networks were also the retailers). Peak demand was a huge problem when the lines weren't up to it.

      I don't know about you, but I certainly remember more blackouts and brownouts in my childhood than we have these days.

      Since the government finally gave in, the networks have been working like crazy to improve the poles-and-wires infrastructure. Which we need, even if only to support that 1 hour out of every year when the demand spikes.

      Incidentally, regarding demand peak demand tariffs - at least one network/retailer ran trials with a lower general price, and then a set number of high demand tariff "events" on peak days (with advance notice). The first time one of the high tariff "events" coincided with a really hot day, half the participants dropped out. No one wants to go without, or pay a fortune for, A/C on a 45 degree day. We need some way to manage this, though.

    • horsome on 26/06/2017 - 13:46

      Great post and what we need to see more of on this issue. So many 3AW/5AA style rants on here and in MSM.

      That "one hour of peak" is really interesting - has this been referred to as gold plating the network before? Even with political pressure its barely justifiable - and there appears to be a overload problem still (programmed shut down in SA in summer, SA govt to pay people to stay of the grid).

      Keep up the good work - i hope you and others in the industry can bring some sense or better ideas to solving this problem (hint - no one cares if the foreign investors lose out or minimise their returns on this).

    • JimmyF on 26/06/2017 - 14:23
      +2

      Costs going up is because gas prices are high and because transmission and distribution have invested a shitload of money into networks that are used for 1 hour a year.

      T&D guys invested BILLIONS into the gridas they have a built in return on investment. The more they spent, the more they make!!

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/hill-the-great-energy-…

      cough

      Here's the rub: the networks had a strong incentive to ignore the naysayers, because the more they built, the more they got paid. Not only could they charge every dollar of that $45 billion back to consumers through their bills; they could also add on another 10 per cent - their "regulated rate of return" - and charge that back to consumers as well.

      So spend $10M, you get to charge the customer $11M…….Spend $100B you get to charge $101B to the customer. Hello $1B profit!

      • User102430 on 27/06/2017 - 22:25

        "Spend $100B you get to charge $101B to the customer. Hello $1B profit!"

        You mean, spent $100B, welcome $10B profit. Indeed, no incentives to keep the costs down!

        • JimmyF on 28/06/2017 - 22:31

          yeah whoops…. Thats not a 10% markup my bad. Yes should be spend $100B get $110B back!

          Well no incentive to not spend money even if its not needed! Borrow the money from the banks at 3-4%, while making 10% of spending it. Nice 7% profit for doing SFA really (assuming payback in a year)

          All those LED street lights that went in, you as the customer are paying for them + 10%.

        • Euphemistic on 29/06/2017 - 07:28

          @JimmyF: yes, but by installing LED street lights the current grid can support 10 lights instead of one. Building more efficiencies into the system reduces the amount of infrastructure needed to supply everyone. By installing the throughout a subdivision they might not need to upgrade a box to power a couple of extra houses.

          Increasing power prices gets people working out how they can reduce power consumption, solar, energy efficient appliances which also reduces load on the system, reducing the need to increase capacity in the transmission sustems.

          The whole system is so complex very few people fully understand the implications of their comments. I'm not one to profess to know how it all works, but I can look at different aspects and consider the impacts.

        • JimmyF on 29/06/2017 - 09:42
          +2

          @Euphemistic: Didn't read the article linked hey? The T&D guys will be installing LED lights and upgrading the grid. They're not doing these upgrades to save upgrades.

          T&D guys are doing upgrades not required, just to simply get a return on the money invested. There is no oversight/control in to what should/can be done. Its up to the T&D guys.

          While upgrading street lights to LED might save a small amount of power. Why not do them as the old units fail? They pulled out millions and millions of working lights to replace with new lights. Massive cost in parts and LABOUR billed to the tax payer. It will take a decade in 'power savings' to cover these upfront costs.

          There was 4 guys and two trucks required to replace EACH light in my street and took about an hour each! The bill would have been pushing over $1k per light the way these guys charge. So the power company got $1100 back for that after the 10% extra.

          Say a LED saves 80% on power usage and a old street light was using 200w @ 12hr/day = 2.4kw, that means a LED would use 40w @ 12 hrs or 480w a day. A saving of lets say 2kw a day. Off peak rates at 15c/kwh, that would be a 30c day saving.

          So $1100 install costs / 30c savings a day = 3666 days or 10 years to recover the upfront costs. Assuming the LED lights last that long and don't fail early, requiring a replacement and another $1k+ to replace it!

        • JimmyF on 29/06/2017 - 09:44

          @Euphemistic: Have a read of this https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/july/1404136800/jes…

          $45 billion upgrade project allowed to run virtually unchecked by anyone!

        • frewer on 02/07/2017 - 19:34

          @JimmyF: Great article, what astonishing to me is these kind of corrupted practice so often get away with it.

    • drillvoice on 26/06/2017 - 16:19

      Great post, thank you.

      One option around the "peak" is greater use of demand management, which we are beginning to see scale up. The problem is though, companies get a regulated rate of return from money spent on infrastructure and not money spent on operations, like demand management. So the current incentives don't necessarily encourage the lowest-cost options.

    • PoorStudent on 26/06/2017 - 21:43

      I am an Energy Trader and I can confirm this is correct.
      AMA on the WEM (WA) if anyone is interested as WA's price increase is due to different reasons. WA's domestic gas price has been decreasing.

    • machej on 28/06/2017 - 20:35

      It is worth noting that some baseload coal would have helped cap the upper end of the wholesale prices. Alinta offered to run the Port Augusta Station in South Australia for a paltry sum of $24 million. Unfortunately this offer was declined and that 520MW would have been pretty helpful for SA.

    • burningrage on 29/06/2017 - 21:19

      "Retail

      I know less about these guys, but basically they buy a certain amount out of the NEM and sell it to consumers. They take a profit margin on the way through. I understand this profit margin has expanded a little in recent years however this is only a small fraction of the price increases everyone has seen."

      I will try to add the Retail part. I used to work for generator/retailer. Things may change but the principles should remain the same.

      Retailers (whoever bills you) buy power from NEMMCO/AEMO at spot market. However, during times of peak demand, where price can go up to $13,500 per Mwh, retailers become exposed. Retailers use CFD (Contract For Differences) in order to limit that exposure.

      So for example, if a retailer buy a CFD contract (usually from the generator) for 10,000 Mwh capacity at say $40 per Mwh and the spot at that time was $100 per Mwh, the retailer will pay $1,000,000 through the spot market ($100 x 10,000 Mwh) but will then be reimbursed via the CFD contract at ($60 x $10,000 Mwh) or $600,000. Net cost $400,000. This is how retailers limit their spot exposure.

      I am not sure with renewables come into the mix, I am not sure how this model works.

      Would be nice someone to help explain. :-)

  • [Deactivated] on 26/06/2017 - 08:58

    Momentum are not raising prices for at least 12months. Worth a look

    • gimme on 26/06/2017 - 21:47

      Great im with them as they're the cheapest in my area anyway

  • bargain huntsman on 26/06/2017 - 09:10

    I have time of day metering and live in NSW. With Energy Australia, my plan went from between 11.5% to 38.8% rise.

    Dedicated Cct___0.0937200___0.1300200___+38.7%
    Off-Peak_______0.1183600___0.1643400___+38.8%
    Shoulder_______0.2126300___0.2690600___+26.5%
    Peak__________0.5308600___0.5918000___+11.5%

    • [Deactivated] on 26/06/2017 - 10:38
      +1

      I have time of day metering and live in NSW.

      I thought these things were suppose to save people money … but when you look at the breakdown of pricing, you're no better off than having a 'dumb meter' and paying a blended rate.

      • bargain huntsman on 26/06/2017 - 11:22

        As I understand it, you are forced onto time of day metering when you connect a PV system. Choosing when devices operate gave me flexibility to keep costs down, though as you have noted, those rates are very high.

        In the meantime, I have signed up with Origin Energy and fixed my rates for 2 years. It's actually at the old Energy Australia rate, so at least delaying the price hike.

        I'm a heavy energy user, so solar has made a huge difference to my electricity bill, dropping my total 2016 bill from $4500 to $1600.

        • [Deactivated] on 26/06/2017 - 12:02

          As I understand it, you are forced onto time of day metering when you connect a PV system

          Makes sense … screw people over on the feed in tarrifs.

        • Cliche Guevara on 26/06/2017 - 15:11

          As I understand it, you are forced onto time of day metering when you connect a PV system

          Not necessarily true. I have a PV and am with AGL - also have a smart meter. Currently paying flat rate (~27c/kWh)

        • jorf on 27/06/2017 - 13:06

          What do you people do to generate such high bills in the first place??

          We spend less than you do per year with your solar and we have just straight-up grid-fed power (family of 4).

      • Cluster on 26/06/2017 - 12:27
        +2

        "I thought these things were suppose to save people money"

        When someone is very keen to force 'time of use' meters onto you, you can be assured it's not in your interests. Nobody offers these meters expecting to earn less money than before.

        • cheepwun on 27/06/2017 - 13:41

          My street is filled with muppets who accepted smartmeters blindly, like the compliant drones they are.

  • Hirolol on 26/06/2017 - 10:34

    That's some bs
    You would think that in 2017 you could choose who provides you energy

  • mavis30551 on 26/06/2017 - 10:56
    +1

    Solar? Saying that I am in a apartment complex so I am screwed.

  • OzzyOzbourne on 26/06/2017 - 11:41

    Anything you can do?
    Reduce your consumption.
    Arrange a protest
    Move house-install solar
    Change provider

    • Cluster on 26/06/2017 - 12:33
      +2

      Reduce consumption: that only moves the goal posts. You may cut your use by 10%, but if next year's rise is 10% then you're back to square one. Can you keep cutting year after year?

      Arrange a protest: everyone's shrugging their shoulders and saying 'it's the market price' and blaming everyone else.

      Move house-install solar: installing solar is a smart choice for home owners, but buying a house just to save money on power involves spending at a bare minimum tens of thousands of dollars in moving costs, fees, taxes and charges.

      Change provider: the wholesale price of power is going up, and all retailers are following the rises. Any company that hasn't yet hiked its prices is sure to do so soon.

      Rapid price rises is only pushing more people to solar, and some are looking at batteries too. This is a self feeding cycle. As more people work to reduce bills, the remaining customers will be paying more and more. The people who really miss out are those living in apartments or renting.

      • OzzyOzbourne on 27/06/2017 - 11:08

        Sorry you meant; anything you can do that will guarantee lower costs long term.

        So no, there isn't. Even if you become prime minister, you probably won't be able to reduce energy costs.

  • zzymurgy on 26/06/2017 - 12:00
    +2

    My apartment is in some electricity grid, and it seems I can't change my provider.

    Can you provide more details on this? You shouldn't be prevented from changing provider unless you are already locked into a discount.

    Most of the comments here aren't helpful at all. Without having any more info, I would guess that perhaps your apartment complex WAS locked into a discount, but recently the contract expired and that's why the price jumped.

    If you have your own electricity meter (ie. not splitting the bill with other residences), you should be able to compare and switch provider.

    • abargainer on 26/06/2017 - 12:37

      Thanks for the reply….
      My current energy provider is https://www.benergy.com.au/
      Its some kind of embedded grid. I tried applying Origin, Energy Australia etc…all of them say that they cannot provide connection to my apartment…

      • zzymurgy on 26/06/2017 - 16:25

        According to that website…

        Do I have the right to choose an energy retailer?

        Yes, all electricity and gas customers within BEnergy Embedded Networks have the ability to choose their energy retailer and type of contract or energy plan.

        It looks complicated, since the embedded network is responsible for the supply to your property, but their website says that you can choose a retailer.

        Bulk hot water is a completely different issue. If you have BHW you are charged by the litre for all the hot water you use, so you can't choose who heats the water for you. But it doesn't sound like you have that.

        Does your bill have your NMI (National Meter ID) on it? You will definitely need that if you are going to change provider.

  • mreddie on 26/06/2017 - 12:25
    +2

    Bikies

  • freakatronic on 26/06/2017 - 12:25

    Burn your trash for warmth.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/06/2017 - 01:12
      +1

      Or tyres.

      Actually no, don't do that, but that comment reminded me that for a while there all those empty shipping containers that were left after i got my Banggood Quadcopter were being filled with tyres and shipped back to China to be burnt for energy. Government eventually pushed back on that, so they started shipping them to Cambodia (?) and then taking them over the border into China from there, and burning them. This is getting long-winded so i'll stop.

  • KingJuf on 26/06/2017 - 12:45

    believe it or not, I just got hit with a bill for $5000, I do hope this is a incorrect meter reading as we recently had solar installed prior to this billing cycle. According to Synergy we will be liable to pay if the meter reading checks out okay? Damn who the hell gets a $5000 power reading in a residential household!!!!

    • idonotknowwhy on 26/06/2017 - 13:55

      How many months is this for?

      • KingJuf on 26/06/2017 - 14:03

        60 days… According to the solar company this must be a incorrect meter reading, I hope so…

        • psyren89 on 28/06/2017 - 15:13

          Sounds like your solar system is working in reverse.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/06/2017 - 01:19

      They didn't do estimates for ages, and then hit you after an actual reading?
      Does happen…especially if they can't find your meter or if you've got a vicious dog. Took me a second to spell 'vicious' just then…must have been thinking 'viscous'…

      • KingJuf on 29/06/2017 - 10:12
        +1

        No we have had frequent readings, what they did was reset our meter reading on their billing system and read the meter from 0 till what it is now. 2 years worth of readings which we had already paid. Anyways Synergy have appeared to correct it now as the amount owing on our account has gone from 5K to $171.

  • nekro on 26/06/2017 - 12:54

    Bpay funds into your elec/gas account every payday

  • ghostdom on 26/06/2017 - 13:47
    -1

    Tesla's saving formula needs to be updated…

  • gimme on 26/06/2017 - 14:32
    +1

    lol and people were all up in arms with the carbon tax was introduced. They all rejoiced when it was wound back. Since then prices have increased in far greater increments. Just political nonsense really and people will suck it up and move on while looking for the next nonsense to be outraged about.

    I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the new prices are effective from July1 so not too sure how a bill from previous months is impacted? Also before we all get carried away, it would be nice for OP to post KWH and daily charges.

    • effgee on 27/06/2017 - 00:25

      yep, I'm still waiting for the mad monk to cycle around to my place and hand me the $400 a year he promised

  • [Deactivated] on 26/06/2017 - 15:03
    -1

    One thing I did which I hope will prove fruitful was sign up to my energy provider (Origin's) Predictable plan. I'd been with them for about 3 years and when I heard the first rumblings of significant price increases, I thought it would be a great time to lock in my rates at a set fee. It was about 20% higher than I had paid over the previous year from memory, but for the certainty it gives me and the ability to use as much as I want without paying extra, thought it was a good deal.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 26/06/2017 - 16:01

    Does any one able to share some insight how much /how to convert my meter to smart meter so that i can get charge by the different time of the day.

    I am living in Sydney.

  • drillvoice on 26/06/2017 - 16:03

    If you can't change your provider, that's pretty outrageous and doesn't leave you with many options.

    Definitely energy efficiency is one that people have mentioned. Being in an apartment probably limits your options but buying efficient appliances is part of it as well as probably targeting your heating/cooling costs: this could be things like curtains and other efficiency tools that you control. As well as potentially some warm socks or trackpants!

    I've seen some discussion elsewhere on this thread about the policy situation and how this is affecting costs…I think the key thing at the moment is that there is a lack of policy certainty, so companies aren't investing in new generation. This means there is less supply for the same demand and thus, as with any market, this means higher costs. A big part of dealing with this is just having some sort of energy policy so that the investments get flowing again.

  • goms on 26/06/2017 - 19:14

    Why don't you fix the rate before July? I wonder why no-one has suggested this. I'm with energy australia and my rate will be going up to 33c before discounts. I just checked their website and their Rate Fix Bundle is at 24c/kWh with no discounts. Even after 20% discounts on the new rate, the fix bundle seems to be a better option here. Am I right or am I missing something? I'm thinking of giving them a call to get the fix rate.

    • PopCounty on 27/06/2017 - 12:34

      20% discount on Electricity? I guess EA provide some 33% discount. If they are giving you 20%, chat with them and demand about more rebate.

      Therefore both the options SEEM similar.
      33c after 33% discount - 22c (approx.) as opposed to fixed rate of 24c.

    • ravonda on 27/06/2017 - 17:27

      That's exactly what I'm doing atm. As an existing customer, go to your online account and you can change to the Fixed Rate plan there.

    • ravonda on 27/06/2017 - 18:58

      For my electricity, it'd save me only approximately $25 over 2 years if I fixed it, but that's not including any future rate increases (pretty sure it'll increase)…

  • cheepwun on 26/06/2017 - 19:15
    +3

    You could see this years ago with the Solar Scams. Why on earth would The Network want you to spend LESS electricity? It means less money for them. Why on earth would The Network want you to be self-sufficient? They don't, which is why it's never discussed and which is why sharing power with your neighbour is outlawed.

    They can talk "use less electricity" because the daily service charges that they charge you are going through the roof, and they are stealing a shedload more of your taxes subsidising their renewables garbage - all-the-while keeping you on-grid (where you belong, under their rules). Self-sufficiency is never discussed.

    Which is why they steal our taxes to pay for their Solar Scams (paying a pittance for your power using your taxes, all-the-while keeping them in business and you on the grid, paying their fees & reducing their costs tremendously). Batteries will only do this even more.

    This scam is all designed to keep reducing their costs while they inflate yours (fixed network charges at well over a dollar a day now). We pay amongst the top 3 highest cost of electricity on the planet (if not the highest). Worldwide, all the places on the planet where The People have enough sun to live from, electricity costs have shot up into the stratosphere, so the Grid Slaves keep paying, while regulation makes it impossible or difficult to break free completely. Not to mention the extremely lazy wasteful lifestyles that people refuse to change in order to be free from the power company. The complete lack of care of basic things like turning off lights. Half-decent insulation, appropriate clothing in winter, etc.

    You can go Off-Grid if you are lucky enough to have your own roofspace. For now. Some places in the world make this impossible. So what we have now is renewables garbage in a grid world. This was done on purupose since the cost of renewables was projected to drop and they all knew it. Their plan was to keep the Slaves on-grid while taxing them through the nose for the privilege, all while wrapping it up in a feel-good renewables flag, like they're doing the world a favour.

    Let the Muppets be fleeced: those who think theyd get a free lunch from the biggest crooks they pay their taxes to. You could see where this was heading YEARS ago.

  • TRENT86 on 26/06/2017 - 19:47

    We need new cleaner Coal power stations rather than closing them down which is why prices are rising! Other countries like China & Japan are building them so why not us?

    • cheepwun on 26/06/2017 - 19:58
      +1

      Prices are rising because of greed, plain and simple. All the fraud wrapped in the Renewables flag, so you swallow. All the lies to justify price rises. If you believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you.

      At least 50% of the Australian population could be pseudo off-grid with minimal change to lifestyle, in my opinion. Definitely enough to keep lights, TV, computers and fridge on. But we are wasteful pigs and the muppets here are too trusting of the filthy suits who speak to us, pretending to care. There is no justification for the highest electricity prices on the planet in a (stolen) country that is energy-rich like Australia.

      Now the muppets get what they deserve while The Grid Suits continue to laugh at you. No outrage at all the taxes stolen to spew forth the reneweables propaganda while halting an exodus from the grid that should have already happened by now, if the masses had any sense.

      • gimme on 26/06/2017 - 21:48
        +2

        No idea what all that means.

        • cheepwun on 27/06/2017 - 12:40

          No idea what all that means.

          You must be playing dumb.

      • TRENT86 on 27/06/2017 - 02:20
        +1

        Renewables and climate change idiots Like S.A are forcing coal stations to shut down and we all know coal is cheap source of power. You can't rely on Renewables, sometimes the sun don't shine, sometimes there is no wind. We should not be forcing people to pay for this shit when even if we did our bit against climate change it would make no difference to the world.

        • JuryWheel on 27/06/2017 - 09:11

          I would suggest that when the sun isnt shining, the wind may be blowing, or the ocean is still 'waving' - plenty of renewable energy types that work as a combination to meet demand.
          Out of curiosity, does anyone know what % of total consumption is by households compared to business/commercial?

        • TRENT86 on 28/06/2017 - 04:23

          @cjb: Yes but what if for some reason it's a winter cloudy day with no swell, no sun or Wind and we know this happens a lot, Do we just go without power? or do we have to limit people's power use? We will never be able to rely just on renewables, well not for about 50yrs min once if becomes cheaper and new ways of producing power come out.
          I would personally like the Gov to push for solar on every house in the country and then every house with a battery, in this day and age solar power on new homes should be compulsory that way we don't have to rely on stupid Government renewable projects that are costing us billions! We can cut the use of coal burning at the same time if we can use say half our power use a day using Solar power or our batteries

        • JuryWheel on 28/06/2017 - 09:23

          @TRENT86:
          I agree that every new home build should have solar too, an extra $10k on a $200-300k average build seems pretty doable imo.

        • iand on 29/06/2017 - 12:20

          and the beauty of all this is while the Government was advocating closing the dirty polluting coal power plants here they also increased the number of export licenses for coal because burning it overseas obviously doesn't effect our planet

    • [Deactivated] on 29/06/2017 - 01:21

      "Clean" coal?

      That's fake news.
      You're fake news.

  • coolhead on 27/06/2017 - 10:31

    haven't noticed such a big jump in my bill.. who is your provider and what is the per unit rate and service to property rate that you get?
    if more than others then switching might help.

  • whirlpool_guy on 27/06/2017 - 11:41

    Recharging the batteries of my gadgets at work!

    • cheepwun on 27/06/2017 - 12:55

      Recharging the batteries of my gadgets at work!

      When you're paying well over $1 a day just to be connected to a service (even when you don't turn a switch on) I don't think they care - and money-wise it makes a tiny difference to your bill. They are getting about $500 a year guaranteed by virtue of the Grid Slaves simply having the electricity hooked-up at their premises. Recharging of batteries (and laptops and power tools and so forth) can easily be done on a small portable solar system, because it's typically a very undemanding load.

      Lighting and charging of gadgets is typically the low-hanginig fruit, easily solved. Heating and active cooling (air conditioners, fridges) are typically are the highest loads for most people.

  • 8200 on 27/06/2017 - 17:57
    -5

    Thank you "greens"

    Australia has the cheapest brown coal right in its own backyard and we are not using it, so we are paying almost the highest rates in the word

    THIS is what happens when spastics vote for spastics, fake party ruining this country

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/05/wind-turbines-are-neithe…

    • trongy on 28/06/2017 - 10:33

      63% of Australia's electricity generation is from coal.
      23% of Australia's electricity generation is from other fossil fuel sources.
      5.3% of Australia's electricity generation is from Hydro which was not a result of influence Green politicians; it has been in place for decades.

      Source

      Energy generation is largely under control of state governments. Green politicians have close to zero influence in our state governments.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/06/2017 - 01:37
      -1

      Umm, calling people 'spastic' hasn't been cool for at least 30 years.
      Get a grip spazzo.

  • zombie hunter on 27/06/2017 - 20:21

    I feel sorry for u guys. It suxs.
    I am lucky I brought a property that has solar hydro and back up generator setup.
    My turbine is a recycled fischer and pykel smart drive motor. it can generate around 1.2kwhr if
    fine tune properly. Since I have also solar, I yet to fine tune it.
    It was a steep learning curve to understand the setup from the previous owner.
    Currently installing wireless link to get NBN 100 to the property.
    And only 6km from surburbs so not that isolated
    And I still get calls that they can reduce my electricity bill. And even hook me up.

  • gstfree on 27/06/2017 - 20:35
    +1

    You are on embedded network. I don't expect you to pay more than the market rate.

    If they suddenly increase 30% , you can complain to energy ombudsmen. If all of tenants are unhappy, check if you could change another embedded network provider.

    Alternatively you can get a on-market meter installed. But initial cost is very high, may not be justified.

  • cnitsuj on 27/06/2017 - 22:09
    +2

    It appears your meter is on an embedded network and your meter is not contestable - you can't change retailers. I did a bit of a google on embedded network managers, it appears there are some regulatory changes coming 1st December 2017 (Power of Choice) so that you can change retailers. I am not familiar with embedded network regulatory changes but I know my client (energy retailer) can potentially receive NMIs with an embedded network manager and they currently have off market NMIs that belong to an embedded network manager. Here are some links I came across, you might want to do some research.

    http://www.energetics.com.au/resources/latest-news/climate-c…
    https://www.maddocks.com.au/regulatory-protection-customers-…

  • DiscoJango on 28/06/2017 - 09:17
    +4

    the rich wont care (they are rich).
    the poor wont care (they get government benefits)
    the middle class pays for everything.

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