Caveat emptor...

[ameerat42]

...electrica!

No names are mentioned in this observation...

Today I was talking to the electricity supply coy. They told me I was not on a discounted plan.

Being -ed at this disclosure I (declined their offer to be transferred to their sales dept immediately)
and went later to their site, where all the "discount plans" were laid out in an unprintable fashion. After
collating the info into a readable tabulated format, I did some close checking. Note that I had my bill
and I could zero in on my address on the site.

The info showed the "normal" amounts per chargeable item, and the touted 18% discounted amounts.
But, when I compared the "normal" amounts with those on my bill, I found that my bill amounts started
off LOWER than the stated amounts on the website.

As a result, I would only get approx 10% discount, not 18%!!

I haven't decided what to do yet, but to call them up and point it out will be on the cards

[Glenda]

At least you have a choice - here we only have one supplier. Out of curiosity I recently completed an on line electricity comparison. After answering the questions such as "do you have solar", "what size", "how many people living in the house" etc. I was told my annual bill should total around $1800. YIKES - we don't pay anywhere near that much. We obviously don't need heating up here but our air-cons get a really good workout over our long hot summer.

[Tannin]

Just get rid of them.

Some time ago, the Victorian government introduced an excellent non-commercial, no-BS comparison tool at https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/

Since that time, other governments have also seen the light and you can now go to https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/ even in backward states like New South Wales.

Be aware that these comparison tools are not the whole story. They give you a very good quick and simple first approximation, but cannot do full justice to the complexities of so many different approaches to billing.

Or, if you can't be bothered with all that tedious reading of the fine print and just want good, simple value for money from a company that is straightforward and easy to deal with, go to http://powershop.com.au Powershop regularly comes in amongst the top two or three for value, and they make a virtue out of simplicity. No "this plus that minus some percentage multiplied by the number we first thought of and added to the winter surcharge factor, all on top of a daily supply charge" BS, they simply tell you what your unit price is and charge you for however many units you use. Couldn't be easier.

Their standard rates are very competitive. If you want to save even more, you can jump online and pay in advance any time you like. This is very easy and saves a substantial amount. And unlike (e.g.) your mobile phone provider, they never, ever slap you with "use or lose" timeouts - i.e., if you buy too much power (to take advantage of one of their special deals), that's fine, you can use it later. Or, if you can't be bothered doing that a few times a year, just do nothing and you will be billed automatically at their standard saver rate, which is still pretty good.

I recommend them.

Disclaimer: I own shares in Meredian Energy, Powershop's parent company, but I don't recommend them because I own shares in them, I own shares in them because I switched my electricity over to Powershop a couple of years ago and was so impressed by the value and ease of use that I bought the company. Well, bought some very small percentage of it. Banked another nice dividend just last week.

So how do they offer such good value and still make a tidy dollar? By being smart: they provide (at no extra charge) 100% renewable electricity, which is cheap because they own their own big wind farms spread around SA, Vic and NSW, plus solar farms (in Vic and NSW) and three hydro stations in NSW and Vic which they can use when the wind isn't blowing anywhere. Wind, solar, and hydro all cost basically nothing to run. Once you have built the facility, that's it: nothing more to spend. Am I sounding like a bit of a fanboy? Well, I am.

[ameerat42]

Ta, Tannin. That no BS coy ended up higher than my present, un-discounted charges. Hmm!

[Tannin]

Then you are doing something wrong. Dunno what, but no way that is the case.

[ameerat42]

Basically, I picked the location and rate of consumption (and other little things like Off Peak)
and... So I either.

[Tannin]

I have seen other companies come in cheaper than Powershop, AM, but not by much, and seldom if ever any of the major gentailers (Origin, Energy Australia, and so on). Are you unusual in your consumption patterns?

What is this "off peak" you mention? Back in the old days when there was nothing much except coal, most of Australia had special "off peak" rates for things like hot water. The theory was that coal fired stations have to run 24/7 and can't shut down overnight, so they used to try to shift as much demand as possible to the times of day (well, times of night actually, essentially midnight to dawn) where there was wasted power going begging. That's pretty much a thing of the past now; we are transitioning to load-shifting into the opposite half of the clock: to what used to be the daily peak (say 10ish to mid-afternoon), where there is more and more spare power being generated by solar PV. So possibly that is a factor in your case. I can't imagine what else it might be. It is very strange.

[ameerat42]

That is right, Tannin. OP is for the HWS. I have seen it called "Controlled Load" in various places.
Of course, that's a better name for it because there a more sylla-bab-bles in it

[Boo53]

We're with Powershop as well (and I don't have shares in Meridian ).

Off peak, which is any consumption between 11.00pm and 7.00am is actually a smidgeon higher than some others but peak is very competitive.

Because we pay in advance get around 24% of the powershop base prices and that discount is factored in to my comparison above.

Since we upped our solar system and added 10kwh of battery most of our consumption now is off peak so I guess I should check out the comparison sites but our total bill isn't enough to get me motivated.

But with the "new" system of comparison sites driving things isn't it amazing that Disloyalty is rewarded with the regular jumpers getting the low price and those who don't leave getting gouged.