Is it time to switch? The utility thread!

Our utility tariffs are a hot topic at the moment. This states reliance on renewable energy has us paying very high electricity prices during peak demand times. It's a bad winter this year and we are going to feel the pain when the next quarterly bills come in!

I have signed up to One Big Switch...no obligation, but the prospect of lower utility bills.

There are a number of ways to reduce your bills and I am thinking of switching energy providers to get a better rate.

If anyone has any info or can contribute to this topic it will be appreciated as all of us can benefit from lower utility costs.

I have changed providers before and it was an easy process. I am currently with Origin and receive 18 % discount on my electricity and 10 % on my gas.

There are a few variables to consider when comparing different providers:

1. The price per kw for the first amount of units

2. The price per kw for any subsequent units

3. The daily charge

4. The exit fee if you change provider ( may be nil or may be a fee dependent upon length of contract time)

5. Solar fee in tariff (if applicable)

6. A connection fee (if applicable)

If you can think of anything else please add to this...

I have checked out a few providers and this one looks good.

The company is Simplyenergy

https://www.simplyenergy.com.au/home/compare-energy-rates/

Here are the rates that they are offering:

RAA membership gets extra 2% above their 28% discount.

Their rates for this discount are:

These rates are in line with what my present Origin charges are. I used to pay more with AGL.

That is a massive difference in discounts...my present one being 18% at Origin and this one being 30%.

They also pay solar feed in at good rates depending upon when you had the system installed.

So what's the catch? Are other providers rates lower thereby mitigating the discount?

The only downside I can see is that you will pay a penalty of the following if you break your contract.

Does anyone know of a better offer from another provider? I have looked at a few (Dodo, AGL) but can't see anything better than a 12% increase on my present discount.

The electricity discount of 30% at Simplyenergy is 12% more than my present discount and will save hundreds of Dollars a year. I could probably push Origin to up my discount by a few % (friendly phone call to ask for a bigger discount) but they aren't going to match 30% are they?

Should I change?

Should you change?

Is there a better deal out there?

Is anyone a customer of Simplyenergy?

Any feedback?

I'm still in the UK so I can't comment on your best tariff, but I used to work for one of the UK's energy comparison websites so I know a fair bit about how it all works here.

IMHO you should always switch to a new deal if you haven't done so previously. The incumbent energy suppliers rely on the fact that most people don't switch and so their prices will be higher than those suppliers that are looking to attract new customers. When your initial contract term ends you may be bumped on to a higher standard tariff than the offer you signed up for, so you need to keep an eye on the rates you are paying. You may also find that there is a "new customers only" offer from your existing supplier, but if you phone up and tell them you are thinking of switching they might just offer you a better deal!

The other thing to watch out for is that suppliers make their tariffs unnecessarily complex so that you can't easily compare them e.g. tiered tariffs at different usage levels. I don't know if there are any decent comparison websites that cover SA, but if there is it would be good to at least see what they offer.

If I can be of any further help please let me know, but clearly I don't have a handle on the SA market yet.

I'm still in the UK so I can't comment on your best tariff, but I used to work for one of the UK's energy comparison websites so I know a fair bit about how it all works here.

 

IMHO you should always switch to a new deal if you haven't done so previously. The incumbent energy suppliers rely on the fact that most people don't switch and so their prices will be higher than those suppliers that are looking to attract new customers. When your initial contract term ends you may be bumped on to a higher standard tariff than the offer you signed up for, so you need to keep an eye on the rates you are paying. You may also find that there is a "new customers only" offer from your existing supplier, but if you phone up and tell them you are thinking of switching they might just offer you a better deal!

 

The other thing to watch out for is that suppliers make their tariffs unnecessarily complex so that you can't easily compare them e.g. tiered tariffs at different usage levels. I don't know if there are any decent comparison websites that cover SA, but if there is it would be good to at least see what they offer.

 

If I can be of any further help please let me know, but clearly I don't have a handle on the SA market yet.

It doesn't quite work the same here. I recently investigated the energy prices here to consider if it was switching and found that most suppliers have just one price for there electricity and gas for any particular area. This may be split in to several different tariffs for different amount of usage, but in general different plans for the same supplier all have the same base price. Where they differ is in the discount offered. When your plan finishes you loose the discount. If anyone in Australia is not getting a discount on their electricity or gas bills then at the very least they should sign up to a new plan with their current supplier and get the discount.

When I was looking at changing my energy suppliers I couldn't find any comparison sites that did the sort of job the UK ones do (ie where you put in your usage and current plan and they tell you how much you could save on different plans). I did find one that would give a cost with each supplier but did not take the discount in to account. Given that the discount is applied to usage only and all the suppliers have different standing charges this isn't very helpful. I actually put together a spreadsheet to work out the approximate cost per year with each supplier based on my usage, with the discount applied. Alinta energy came out cheapest so I switched to them. Had Simply Energy been offering the 30% discount at the time I looked (it was 22% at the time) they would have been cheaper. My only concern would be the exit fee and the fact you are signed up for 2 years.

Our utility tariffs are a hot topic at the moment. This states reliance on renewable energy has us paying very high electricity prices during peak demand times. It's a bad winter this year and we are going to feel the pain when the next quarterly bills come in!

 

This isn't actually true and is the kind of rubbish peddled by the coal loving Murdoch press. Plus the spot prices are only really relevant for large businesses and do not apply to residential customers. A couple of good links for anyone that's interested in how things actually work:

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/murdoch-media-gets-it-hopelessly-wrong-on-wind-energy-again-53381

http://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/10-tips-help-murdoch-reporters-write-great-energy-articles/

And a story on the issues with electricity in SA by the ABC

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-21/energy-ministers-need-to-focus-on-reforming-electricity-market/7646106

We have been with tru energy/energyaustralia for years...... We did the one big switch couple of years ago and they were the company that gave the deal so just changed plans! Since then other companies have come in cheaper so i got on the phone to them for a good old moan! They have matched the simple energy deal above so I'm quite happy! It pays to ask first..... Saves all the hassle of moving!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We have been with tru energy/energyaustralia for years...... We did the one big switch couple of years ago and they were the company that gave the deal so just changed plans! Since then other companies have come in cheaper so i got on the phone to them for a good old moan! They have matched the simple energy deal above so I'm quite happy! It pays to ask first..... Saves all the hassle of moving!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just bear in mind though that the different energy companies charge different rates so the same, or even a bigger, discount with one company may still cost you more than another company. My discount with Alinta is 20% but it still worked out cheaper than Simply Energy with a 22% discount and significantly cheaper than Energy Australia with a 21% discount.

This is my current tariff which offers an 18% discount on the bill.

The rates seem to be higher than Simply Energy...

Pricing details Contract term Ongoing contract with 12 months benefit period. Contract expiry details Ongoing contract which continues until you or we end it. The benefit period is 12 months. When the benefit period ends we'll still supply you with energy under our contract but you'll no longer receive the benefit. 110 Qtly

Domestic Light/Power Unit Excl GST Inc GST Usage of first 10.9589 kWh/Day cents per kWh 31.32 34.452 inc tax

Usage - Balance cents per kWh 35.21 38.731 inc tax

Daily Supply Charge cents per day 70.61 77.671 inc tax

Qtly Controlled Load (Where applicable) Unit Excl GST Inc GST All Usage cents per kWh 15.20 16.720

So, not only is the Simply Energy discount 12% more but their rates per kw are cheaper too? But the supply charge per day at Simply Energy is 8c per day more expensive = 90 days (for a quarterly bill) x 8 = $7.20 which will be more than offset by the 12% increase in discount.

Seems like a no brainer to switch or for a new customer to sign up with them?

I'm still in the UK so I can't comment on your best tariff, but I used to work for one of the UK's energy comparison websites so I know a fair bit about how it all works here.

 

IMHO you should always switch to a new deal if you haven't done so previously. The incumbent energy suppliers rely on the fact that most people don't switch and so their prices will be higher than those suppliers that are looking to attract new customers. When your initial contract term ends you may be bumped on to a higher standard tariff than the offer you signed up for, so you need to keep an eye on the rates you are paying. You may also find that there is a "new customers only" offer from your existing supplier, but if you phone up and tell them you are thinking of switching they might just offer you a better deal!

 

The other thing to watch out for is that suppliers make their tariffs unnecessarily complex so that you can't easily compare them e.g. tiered tariffs at different usage levels. I don't know if there are any decent comparison websites that cover SA, but if there is it would be good to at least see what they offer.

 

If I can be of any further help please let me know, but clearly I don't have a handle on the SA market yet.

Thanks for the info.

That makes a lot of sense.

I remember when I switched from AGL to Origin..there was a big campaign, doorknockers, ads etc and the discount offered was a real incentive.

I have one more thing to check on before making the move. I want to confirm that the solar feed in tariff will be at a reasonable rate. It's a complicated scenario here dependent upon when the system was installed. I don't really get that much in savings as the power gets used up before it gets fed back into the grid but need to check nevertheless!

I started the online application to switch from my Origin electricity accounts to Simply Energy and hit a snag when it asked for solar feed in details.... the system provided a phone number so that people with solar can give them a call.

I expected that this would be so that they could tell you that the solar feed in tariff cannot be paid if you are getting a 30% discount on your electricity...but I was wrong! The really helpful service consultant (Mary Anne) went through the properties and confirmed that those with solar would get 50.8 cents per unit for feed in which is great. I don't get too much feed in credits anyway as they get used up by the appliances in the house before feeding into the grid but it was good to know that the tariff is on a good rate.

It takes about 10 minutes to switch and they take care of everything. They can access your meter details from your address and accept your drivers licence details as proof of id. I expect it will be just as easy online.

I have now moved 4 electricity accounts to Simply Energy and calculate that the savings are over a thousand dollars by doing so...

I didn't switch the gas accounts as Simply Energy discounts are only 10% for gas so...

Am still looking for a better discounted rate for gas if anyone knows of anything???

If anyone hears of a better deal than Simply Energy please let us know....

I rang our provider up, Energy Australia (thanks Tamara for the prompt and info about Simply Energy) and managed to get our discount on gas increased from 21% to 27% so happy with that. We have solar power and are always in credit so it is difficult to negotiate a discount usually, but Energy Australia have offered us a 15% discount off the electricity bill before any of our solar credits come off, so happy with that, they also give a higher rebate for solar than required. I did ring Simply Energy and when they knew it was solar, they said someone would ring me back, but that was nearly 2 weeks ago and they still haven't contacted me. I am with Scooter Dan and usually just ring up and push my current provider to give us a better deal rather than moving, (I do the same with our mortgage periodically).

Thanks for the info Jessica.

It is always a good idea to phone your present supplier and quote discounts that others are offering.

I was going to add to this and ask: "Does anyone have gas"

That discount from Energy Australia is much better than the one that I am getting from my present Origin provider (12%)...wonder whether that's a gas discount combined with an electricity account. I will have a look to see what they will offer.

Anyone have a better discount?

One Big Switch has just reached 80,000 subscribers and a new range of discounts will be offered by various providers very soon.... will keep you informed.

I had an interesting call from a "Retention's Consultant" from origin yesterday. They don't want me to leave them!

To encourage me to stay they are willing to increase my electricity discount from 16% to 28% and also increase the gas discount from 12% to 18%.

The consultant provided me with her direct number and also her e mail address. If there are any Origin customers out there or people thinking of signing up with Origin as their energy provider you are welcome to send me a PM and I can send you the contact details of the consultant so that you can also negotiate a better rate than you are presently getting.