QLD Beware - New Mandatory Electricity Tariff Coming into Effect!

trankillity on 21/08/2020 - 14:22
Last edited 21/08/2020 - 14:32

So I've just gone through a bit of an ordeal with my brand new solar system and would like to share the story as a warning to others.

THE STORY SO FAR

From 1st July 2020, Energex has retired the traditional single-rate "Residential" tariffs for new meter installations. The replacement default tariff is a new tariff called the "Demand" tariff. To feed into the grid, you're required to get a new smart meter so this change applied to me.

This new "Demand" tariff seems sort of like a hybrid of the "Time of use" tariff and the single-rate "Residential" tariff. It provides a lower overall access and usage rate, but has a surcharge based on how much energy you use in a 30-minute period during peak times (4pm - 8pm). You can read more about it here. The current iteration of the "Demand" tariff can operate in a bridging capacity, so you can stay on your old plan for now.

The wrinkle in this is that this new tariff is incompatible with a lot of providers as it's a brand new tariff that Energex didn't tell many retailers about before rolling it out, so you can't change your provider once your new smart meter has been installed.

I have called my provider (Energy Australia) to talk about this, and they apparently were only told about this change on 22/07/2020, almost a month after the change - and they don't have an answer as to what they're going to do about it. The even bigger kicker here (for them as a company) is that they have a sub-brand called On Energy which has a plan that is only available in QLD. This plan is incompatible with the new "Demand" tariff. So they can literally get 0 new customers since 1st July.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN THE FUTURE?

Even if you don't have solar, and even if you already have a smart meter, you will be forced onto either this new "Demand" tariff or "Time of use" tariff by 1st July 2021.

This will happen because the next time your meter is read, if it's not already a smart meter - it will be flagged as needing replacement. If you already have a smart meter, but it's configured for the "Residential" tariff, it will be flagged as needing reconfiguration. So energy providers have less than a year to adapt to this new tariff and start offering plans that support this tariff.

I've already done the math on this for my usage (calculating consumption/generation down to the minute) and the "Time of use" tariff plans all end up costing more than any of the current "Residential" plans. I can't imagine that the "Demand" tariff plans will be any better. So the end result is that this change that no one told me about until it was too late, is going to cost me a few years extra ROI on the solar panels that I'd budgeted so precisely for.

FURTHER READING

Revised Tariff Structure Statement
Energex Distribution Determination

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Blue Cat on 21/08/2020 - 14:31
    +10

    Privatization of essential utilities has once again proven to be a tremendous success and has brought the prices down and keeps them down as free-market economies, without any monopolies whatsoever, meant it all too be!
    God bless Australia and our high IQ uncorruptable politicians with best intentions for the general population!
    LMAO

    • [Deactivated] on 21/08/2020 - 16:53

      They shouldn't privatise monopolies. Fortunately Energex isn't privatised, it's government owned.

  • OzCheapo on 21/08/2020 - 15:02

    We need more information on this and if necessary, lobby for this in parliament. It's not realistic for early adopters to subsidise the energy company because more people decide to go energy independent.

    • [Deactivated] on 21/08/2020 - 16:54
      +1

      At the moment early adopters on the old feed in tariff are being subsidized by people that can't install solar :\

    • [Deactivated] on 25/08/2020 - 09:28

      Here's your more information. Summarised, OP is spreading FUD. The approved TSS doesn't phase out the Residential Flat tariff at all, and if Energy Australia is claiming that, it's because they are trying to confuse OP to prevent them changing supplier (and extract a few extra dollars for themselves). You'll notice the huge difference between OP's linked TSS (which the final determination rejected) and the TSS in the AER's final decision page.

  • inherentchoice on 21/08/2020 - 15:07
    -7

    It's primarily because of all the fanciful green policies that we're having to pay more for electricity.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvdSmPbdLg

    The demand tariff system is only better aligning the retail market with the wholesale market. Wholesale prices are going up with all the expensive solar and wind feeding into the system, and decommissioning of cheap coal/gas plants.

    Someone still has to pay for all the subsidised solar and wind, including on people's private rooftops.

    • trankillity on 21/08/2020 - 15:20

      Can definitely understand that, and I'm the first to ascribe to those ideas. I only run my dishwasher and washing machine when I have 100% solar generation powering them, I have automations to turn off all my non-essential power sockets when I leave home (base load of only 150w when not home), automated climate control to cool the house down BEFORE peak usage rates (while there's excess solar generation), and even only let stuff charge when there's excess energy being generated.

      What I'm not super keen on, is the fact that nowhere in this entire process was I told of this impending change. My energy provider didn't let me know, and my solar installer didn't let me know. In fact, when talking to these after finding all of this out - they were not even aware of this change! If I'd known going into this that these changes were incoming - I likely would have opted for a significantly smaller system, and gotten a battery installed with it.

      • inherentchoice on 21/08/2020 - 16:25

        Government is very good at keeping things on the quiet when they want to. There's a reason why State Governments employ more journalists and communications people than the media outlets themselves.

    • netjock on 21/08/2020 - 18:18

      It's primarily because of all the fanciful green policies

      ScoMo went into parliament with a lump of coal. I don't see coal fired electricity go down in price, especially in Victoria where it is 80%+ of the energy fuel mix. Good try.

  • slowcoach on 21/08/2020 - 17:49

    Thanks for the post. I’ve also recently had a solar pv system installed and didn’t know about this. I have a new house with smart meter installed in about April. Solar installed about 10 days ago and I’m on an old style tariff.

    Yeah, the time of use rates/times are terrible for me. Some examples of how the demand part will work would be useful for them to provide.

  • netjock on 21/08/2020 - 18:19

    If it works for you get a battery and use it exclusively between 4 - 8pm.

    • trankillity on 21/08/2020 - 19:04

      That would have been the plan, if I had known about this before already fronting for the more expensive inverter/panels.

      • netjock on 21/08/2020 - 19:05

        Your expensive inverter doesn't do battery?

        • trankillity on 21/08/2020 - 19:08

          Yes, it does - I'm just saying that the economics of it would have worked out better if I'd spent less on the inverter/panels, and used some of that budget for upgrading to a battery.

          • netjock on 21/08/2020 - 19:16

            @trankillity: You would be in big trouble on OzB for not gold plating it with a Fronius inverter and top tier (LG) panels.

  • adam on 21/08/2020 - 19:01
    +1

    Thanks for sharing this info

  • [Deactivated] on 22/08/2020 - 12:31

    Hello there,

    Extreme tariff applied to my own comment in order to avoid some likely wasted time with any observations made, so, something else…

    So I've just gone through a bit of an ordeal with my brand new solar system

    A score and four, is a long time ago.
    A build in the energy, to the emotion. Enjoy

  • [Deactivated] on 25/08/2020 - 09:25

    Uh, if you actually read the determinations in the AER report, you find this:

    In accordance with clause 6.12.1(14A) of the NER, the AER's final decision is to not approve the tariff structure statement proposed by Energex. This is discussed in attachment 18 of the final decision

    So, why are you linking to a tariff structure rejected by the regulator and claiming it's happening?

    The actual, approved, Tariff Structure Statement does not grandfather out the Residential Flat Rate tariff, and it even remains the default for upgrades to smart meters. The only time the new Demand tariff is default, is for brand spankers connections to the network, and it's not even mandatory.

    Always read final decisions, not drafts.

    • trankillity on 26/08/2020 - 09:02

      Thanks for pointing that out, but it looks like everything I've said is still true and has been confirmed by the Energy & Water Ombudsman QLD.

      If you look specifically at the ammendments in the mentioned attachment 18, it states that the changes were to move from a full "Demand" tariff, to a transitional "Demand" tariff that still supported that single rate charge until July 2021. So I have been put on this transitional "Demand" tariff (as all new smart meter/new meter installations will be), but it's a soft move to the new "Demand" structure until 1 July 2021 when all compatible meters will be moved to the full "Demand" tariff structure (unless you voluntarily opt to change to "Time of use" tariff).

      In terms of the actual Tariff Structure Statement that you linked, look carefully at section 2.5.1, it makes mention of 4 new tariff types - more specifically "a transitional demand tariff which will be the default tariff for customers with a smart meter". Further, section 2.6.1 leads with:

      From 1 July 2020, Energex will immediately assign to the transitional demand tariff:
      * new SAC Small customers, and
      * existing SAC Small customers that initiate an upgrade from their basic accumulation meter to a smart meter (eg. to install new solar PV)
      Energex will assign existing SAC Small customers that receive a smart meter for reasons that are not initiated by the customer (eg. due to end of life reasons) to the transitional demand tariff at the end of 12 month grace period from the date of meter replacement, unless their retailer chooses to voluntarily opt-in to a cost reflective tariff during this grace period.

      Thanks again for doing that extra digging, and let me know if and how I'm wrong - but reading it all makes sense, and having it all confirmed by EWOQ makes me think it's all true.

      • [Deactivated] on 26/08/2020 - 10:36

        The issue is that Table 3, which sets out the scenarios where a customer gets whatever tariff, it rather explicitly says from 2021 that the demand tariff is optional, and that Residential Flat is ongoing and available.

        But, just for the sake of introducing more information which can be used to assess what options are more beneficial, here's the actual pricing:

        https://www.energex.com.au/__data/assets/excel_doc/0010/8362…

        • trankillity on 26/08/2020 - 11:29

          In the very table you're referring to, under the column of "Tariff assignment policy (Year 1)" the conditions of being on the old "Residential" tariff are quite explicit - and in the instance that you get a new smart meter installed, it will be placed on the default "Demand" bridging tariff. I understand that the superscript specifically states "New customer means a new connection to the distribution network.", so not really sure whether a new smart meter installation is considered a "new connection to the distribution network".

          You are definitely correct in that the "Residential" tariff is ongoing (until 2025), and not being retired as I was originally told. However from that table, that's only until your meter is replaced with a smart meter or reconfigured - which is supposedly happening before July 2021.

          Thanks for the pricing structure for services too. Definitely worth me getting the meter reconfigured (if they can) to get on On Energy. Looks to be about $100 for the service and my calculations are that it should save me $100 per quarter to change provider.

          Good to see the baseline pricing structure for the new Demand tariff in there too. Do you happen to know what the DUOS, DPPC, JS, NUOS groupings refer to?

  • AYD on 18/11/2021 - 09:43

    Got my latest bill here in QLD. Then came searching on Ozbargain to see if anyone else is faving it. Can confirm OP was right. I have a "Demand" charge. so the highest half hour block of the cycle we used 17Kwh. This is then x $0.10 x number of days = $160 added to my bill, for absolutely nothing. Nothing else has changed.

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