NSW Elec Retailers Think We Are TOU but Current Retailer Says Single Rate Tariff

Ah my lunch on 20/06/2025 - 14:26

Pulling my hair out here and don't know who is wrong.

South West Syd with Endeavour Energy as distributer, Powershop current retailer. Have been single rate for over a decade, smart meter installer many years ago when solar feed in was 60c. Never opted in to a TOU plan.

I'm trying to do price comparisons as we recently received the changes as of 1 July, however once I enter my address almost all retailers are only showing me only TOU plans (Energy Locals, Monument, Sumo, Energy Aust), while a couple show single rate.

I asked Energy Locals who indicated that the distributer has our meter on 'Time of Use Seasonal tariff'.

We just called Powershop who says that our meter is on single rate, and if we changed retailer it would default to a single rate plan.

If I enter our address on the Powershop website it only offers TOU, which to me sounds like someone at some point has changed our tariff without telling us, but if Powershop support insists that we are Single Rate, who do I raise this with?

Home & Garden Electricity

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Powershop
Powershop

Comments

  • Human Decoy on 20/06/2025 - 14:45

    You'll be on TOU but retailer at the time never updated their pricing.
    You could contact the distributor to check but very likely you will be permanently changed to TOU when you switch retailers.
    If you want to play frustrating games to stay on single rate, get a quote, switch and if they try and back out of the price contact the ombudsman

  • Bignudge on 20/06/2025 - 14:45
    +1

    I have inadvertedly ran into this same problem awhile ago during the process of comparing electrcity prices.

    For context, I upgraded to a smart meter since getting solar nearly 6-7 years ago and have been on a single rate tariff since; moving between AGL, Powershop, Origin, and now Dodo without dramas.

    It was about a year ago when I started noticing that most of these companies started to ONLY offer TOU tariffs to me. Only Dodo was the one who offered me a single rate tariff. After reading/watching some stuff online, it's seems to be in their best interest to charge for TOU as "on demand" prices yield better profits.

    EDIT: Even the energymadeeasy website said I should have access to a single rate tariff but the retailers didn't want to know a word of it.

  • Ah my lunch on 20/06/2025 - 16:07
    +1

    Update - Endeavour Energy doesn't seem to want to directly answer my question, but from the links (below) they referred me to they are charging retailers TOU, and it's up to retailers to decide if they want to offer single rate (and cover any additional costs).

    I can't see any details on whether this is a progressive thing or if all Endeavour users have been shifted to TOU, but as far as I know there has been (profanity) all notice of this.

    Apart from energymadeeasy listing single rate plans that no one can get anymore (like @Bignudge said), it's also impossible to estimate how much this will cost when comparing plans because no one on single rate would know their peak usage.

    https://www.endeavourenergy.com.au/your-energy/understanding…
    https://www.endeavourenergy.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/00…

  • wanj on 20/06/2025 - 16:34
    +1

    Single tariff with Demand charges, is almost always worse than TOU.

  • Clickbait on 20/06/2025 - 17:08

    Please correct me if I am wrong, and I am good at that, but doesn't TOU come with a smart Meter. And, from there, the Distributiors will be able to manage your times/rates at their discretion.
    A Melbourne consumer called radio yesterday to say their distributor had called them offering $100 credit to cut off their power for two hours AM. If you don't know Melbourne was at an edge earlier this week - No wind, cloudy, Power stations restricted, QLD getting nastry about sending their gas to Victoria.
    Very limited knowledge here, but the AEMO charges can be historical in these ciscumstances.
    Can someone with more knowledge point to the AEMO Prices page?

    • Bignudge on 20/06/2025 - 19:09
      +2

      I don't know much about AEMO charges but you are correct with the TOU working off a smart meter. Depends on what energy provider you are with it really can work both ways.

      For example with Amber being a wholesaler, prices can surge up to $19/kWh during peak times. But then during the day when there is too much electrcity they literally pay you to use electricty.

      Some people with battery systems (especially now with that big state and national rebate coming into effect after 1st July 2025) are seriously raking it in. During that big $19/kWh surge, Amber have paid $17/kWh if you feed in from your battery. Say that surge lasts for 4 hours and your battery has a 20kWh capacity then you should be able to unload your "whole" battery for a ~$340. Then when it hits 1-4am you charge up practically for free.

      Yes it degrades your battery but with 10 years warranty guaranteeing a 70% retention, does it really matter if you've already made your money back in say a year or two?!

      • Clickbait on 20/06/2025 - 22:02
        +1

        Congratulations.
        That is the best post I have ever read on OZbargain. Between the lines, do I really need to install solar, or just buy a big battery, and let the distributors flick the switch?
        I have a an electric concrete slab, which has been costing me a fortune, and Amber seems to be offering $0.04885 for 9:00AM to 3:00PM but still looks a bit sketchy

        • Bignudge on 23/06/2025 - 11:36

          Good luck with it all, but I feel like there's no point comparing electrcity prices atm until the price change after July 1st.

  • cyan00FFFF on 20/06/2025 - 22:46

    It's the same for me on Ausgrid. I've had a smart meter for a long time, so Ausgrid is very likely to be charging the retailer on a TOU tariff, but it completely up to the retailer what tariff they want to charge me. Generally you need to get a quote directly from the retailer's website to get an idea of what tariff they will use, but even that is subject to change after you sign up.
    Recently I've had:
    * Jul 2023, Globird, TOU
    * Jan 2024, AGL, single rate (changed back to TOU Jul 2024)
    * Jul 2024, Alinta, demand
    * Mar 2025, AGL, single rate
    It's also worth noting our usage is very stable, our bills are very similar regardless of which tariff we get. So I reckon it is very dependent on how the retailer thinks your usage is like, they will pick whatever makes them the most profit.

  • Clickbait on 21/06/2025 - 08:43
    +1

    Just thinking! I should look up Distributor use of TOU to Retailers
    All Retailers except Amber, seem to be using variations of flat rates, so TOU fluctuations could be killing them

  • surfingedge on 21/06/2025 - 18:37

    I've been told I am on a "transitional TOU". The peak and off-peak prices are the same.

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