Energy Australia Gas Bill Too Much, Need Explanation

V003 on 13/01/2021 - 10:59
Last edited 13/01/2021 - 12:28 by 1 other user

Hello Fellow Ozbargainers Please Educate Noob Me.

So I moved to new unit like 6 months ago and I used EnergyAustralia as electricity and gas provider. Electricity bill so far has been good but Gas bill on the other hand is giving me headache. For little back ground I always been sharing houses with other people so never had to worry about gas bill since whatever comes we divide among us. We (5 people) were able to use 8.5kg LPG cylinder for about 3 weeks(20 days giver or take), that was about $20 for a refills. So $20*5= $100, so for 95 days or 100 days total bill would be $100.00.

NOW get back to EnergyAustralia.

In the new place 2 people sharing this unit, we eat out few times and cook food twice a day. My last bill was $168 on which they gave $50 signup discount. I considered that was fair since bill also included supply charge. Two days ago they sent me message saying I can send them my meter reading on provided link or they will use their estimation to finalised the bill. So I looked at gas meter and sent them the reading, this morning they sent me $257 bill and I cant figure out how is that possible.

Mind you 5 people used to cook for 20 days with 8.5 kg or 417MJ now its only 2 people, we didn't change any cooking habits BTW same as before. Gas prices are higher in the service but I knew that, what I don't understand is how much gas EA think we used. YOU can look on link please explain what to make of it. how much did I use and was that fair bill reading.

Once again this is my first time using house with gas service so I have no idea if it normal for people to get gas bills like this. Here is screen shot bil.

What can I do? Should I change my provider? Which is better option for me?

Home & Garden Gas Supply

Related Stores

EnergyAustralia
EnergyAustralia

Comments

  • lunchbox99 on 13/01/2021 - 11:05
    +6

    And when you called Energy Australia they said….?

    • 2Cheap2Pay on 13/01/2021 - 11:38
      +6

      make a post on ozbargain

      • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 11:56

        ok that was funny

    • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 11:46

      their system is down, they will call me when its up

      • paranoidguy on 13/01/2021 - 11:50

        As usual. They work upside down.

  • prisonmike on 13/01/2021 - 11:06
    +1

    Same thing happened to me with Energy Australia when I was renting unit in a block. I found out that the gas meter number I game them was for the block and there was no gas meter installed for the units. The starta was responsible for the gas and it was included in the starta fee which was paid by the owner and not me.
    Anywho I ended up talking to the starta to transfer over the gas meter from my account to theirs which fixed the issue.

  • Muzeeb on 13/01/2021 - 11:06
    +1

    Did you read the correct meter?

    Are any other services on gas (eg. hot water)?

    • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 11:47

      water is provided by strata. so i dont think its counted and I dont use oven either

      • avoidfullprice on 13/01/2021 - 11:50

        water supply is different from heating of water if you have centralised hot water system

        • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 11:55

          oh I don't know what u mean centralised system. my unit does not have any water heater, maybe the apartment building got one. I never asked because my agent said " dont wory about water its provided by strata management". if they charge me for hot water they never explained but even then I don't think we use too much water either(again only two people in unit)

          • avoidfullprice on 13/01/2021 - 12:32

            @V003: https://www.canstarblue.com.au/electricity/centralised-hot-w…

            Imagine your apartment has a giant hot water tank, powered by gas.

            It costs money to heat up the water.

            This cost is split between residents, based on how much hot water you use.

            You don't pay for the hot water itself, you pay for the gas to heat up the water you use for shower and washing and everything.

            Not to be confused with paying for water usage in general.

  • ESEMCE on 13/01/2021 - 11:27

    Firstly, there's 2 Meter readings (2 meters) on that bill which is weird.

    Total usage of 7700MJ is incredibly high if you're only cooking. I'm guessing Hot water is also Gas?

    For the record, my usage over 87 days for 2 adults, 2 kids, with Gas Cooking, Heating and Hot Water was 4000MJ for the August to November period.

    • abb on 13/01/2021 - 15:22

      Top row is hot water, looks like they used a lot (5 890 Litres ?). This is common for blocks of flats - a shared hot water system, and a hot water meter for each user.

      Second row is gas consumed directly by OP, which seems very high (possibly gas company was using poor estimates for the last few bills?).

  • skid on 13/01/2021 - 11:32

    Why are there two items? When you gave them the reading, what was it? 33535? If so, wtf is the 1692 reading? Do they have the same meter number?

    • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 11:49

      meter in my kitchen says 1692 182 (182 is in red and 1692 is white letter)
      )

  • avoidfullprice on 13/01/2021 - 11:40

    Living in apartment? Do they have centralised gas hot water?

    I suspect top reading is in deci-litres, and then converted into MJs. That would be the centralised hot water system (how much hot water is drawn)

    The bottom would be for the gas stove, reading in cubic metres. Do you have gas floor heater? (Although being in last quarter it wasn't that cold was it?

    Changing retailer wont change the readings the distributor take.

    • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 11:57

      hmm I do think second one is my kitchen reading. so what is first reading? I am gonna ask strate manager maybe she can explain it

      • avoidfullprice on 13/01/2021 - 12:39
        +1

        First reading is likely from the flow meter between this centralised hot water system you are not aware of, and your unit hot water taps

        The reading looks like in decaliter ~deciliter~. Every 1 decaliter is 10 liter. So your bill indicates you're using 60L of hot water on average each day.

        You are paying for the gas that use to heat up the water

        • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 12:47

          that makes sense, now i don't feel like cheated off. I guess we will be careful from now on. thanks for you time and input.

  • ozprash on 13/01/2021 - 12:00

    I guess your hot water is on gas too. It's that way in our apartment. The Mrs and kiddo like to take long, luxurious baths (>15mins) along with cooking twice a day, and we're looking at $200-250 a quarter, and more during winters.

    • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 12:02

      hmmm I am starting to think that is the case.
      is your water bill included in you rent ? were you told when you rented the place?
      Because I was under the impression we got nothing to do with water bill which included hot water. but your explanation sound feasible, since we do use hot water for shower, cooking twice a day, for doing dishes. etc.

      • ozprash on 13/01/2021 - 12:25

        Our water bill (for usage) is paid by strata/owner. That was told to us.
        It's only the heating of the water that uses the gas that gets onto our gas bill. We have a water heater box installed in our balcony. Not sure how that works for you.

        • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 12:29

          I don't see any heater in my unit that was confusing. but it does make sense that I pay for heating. my strata manager is out now so whenshe back everything will be cleared.
          Thanks for your input anyway

          • avoidfullprice on 13/01/2021 - 12:35

            @V003: The water tank is not inside your unit, but in the apartment somewhere

          • CheapSticks on 13/01/2021 - 14:28

            @V003: Ur tariff is on the higher side too…may be shop around- check origin.

  • jackofspade on 13/01/2021 - 15:15
    +1

    The 2nd meter reading which is for cooking gas is ridiculously high. I suspect the previous reading is incorrect. Check your usage over several days to estimate your usage for 95 days.

    • abb on 13/01/2021 - 15:30

      I suspect the previous reading is incorrect.

      Yeah one possible explanation is that the gas company has been using "estimated" readings for some time. Would be interesting to see the readings from the previous few bills.

    • V003 on 13/01/2021 - 17:43
      +1

      So I found my previous bill, second reading on that bill was 1560 > 1561, only 1 base unit

      So last bill 92 days had only 1 base usage increment and this bill 133 base usage, some thing is fishy

      • jackofspade on 13/01/2021 - 19:12

        My base usage for 90 days is usually just 1 or 2 units

        • V003 on 14/01/2021 - 09:34

          hmm so on multiple bills?

          • jackofspade on 14/01/2021 - 11:02

            @V003: Yes. It looks like they've been using estimated reading for the meter in your kitchen for years and you're probably the first resident to send them an actual reading and now are paying gas usage by previous residents.

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