How much energy are you using (comparison with other NSW homes)

[Waller]

On this section on my gas bill is has the following comparisons to my usage:

Home with 4 people - average gas use   4.06MJ

Home with 5 people - average gas use   4.067MJ

My home with one person - gas use        9.810MJ

My home is a one bedroom apartment with me (single working male) and uses gas for only a small cooktop and hot water. I use the shower on average twice a day and use the cooktop roughly every second day only.

I have been told that these comparisons that appear on the bill are done externally and are not accurate. However, I just find that my bill indication more than double an indicative 5 occupant house to be just too much of an overwhelming figure to be attributed solely to an inaccurate average use estimate.

Does anybody else's bill have such a stunning contrast to the averages?

[Ellen1]

Hi Waller! 

Welcome to AGL Community! 

The graph on the front of the bills are based on an external survey that was completed by just over 8000 Australians, this means although the data is accurate as per the survey, its not very indicative of actual usage in your area. 

The best way to check if there is something wrong with your usage is doing daily meter readings over a span of time so that you can get an idea of when your usage spikes, and you can also check to see if there is any meter usage when you turn all your appliances off (including your hot water pilot light). 

If you do a little investigation and feel there may be some concerning results you can reach out to our team here.

Thank you 

Ellen

[Waller]

Hi Ellen

Thank you for your response.

I guess I need to respectfully make the observation that the contrast in use for my one occupant apartment (with only a gas cooktop & hot water) is just too profound for "not taking into consideration local area usage" to be either the cause or even a significant contributing factor.  

If 8000 household have been annalised then that is a quite a comprehensive survey to obtain a verifiable average energy usage. Therefore I don't think it can be feasibly dismissed as a "pie in the sky" finding that cannot be substantiated. The average appears on the bill so an AGL user has to be under the impression that it is to be dismissed as irrelevant.

As I said previously, I am the sole occupant of one bedroom apartment with gas required for a cooktop and a shower. I have lived in this apartment for over five years bu myself and have paid very high amounts for gas. It is simply not feasible to dismiss the survey given I am deemed to use well over double the average use of a house with 5 occupants. 

I am told that there are significant other cases of this in my building where some of them already resolved in the customers favour. One of the things that concerns me is that  in the five years I have lived in the apartment there has never been a physical meter read. It is also my concern that I have been paying incorrectly high amounts for my gas use.

I don't think it is fair to expect me to start monitoring my meter as nobody from AGL has physically inspected my meters before. It is just not plausible to indicate that this is probably right with such stunning disparities in the average uses v my use and that the bills are correct. It simply cannot be the case.

Sorry for this but I am worried about this being long and drawn out and my AGL account is telling me that that my projected bill for the current quarter is going to even circa 30% higher than the current bill. 

Kind regards

Philip 

[-Nam-]

Hi Philip! 

I can certainly appreciate that! 

Gas meters in apartment building can sometimes be set up with a secondary gas meter which is accessible by the networks somewhere down stairs. This could be the reason why you haven't seen a meter reader attend your apartment. 

We have certainly have more information on what you can do to track your usage here. 

Kind regards, 

-Nam-

[Waller]

Hi Nam

Thank you for your response.

I have already checked on that scenario with the building concierge and building managers. While there are some meters downstairs I have been informed that there are none downstairs for my apartment. My meters are under my sink only.I also checked whether anyone ever comes to read the meters downstairs and the answer was no.

Concierge also checked with 6 single occupants of one bedroom apartments identical to mine withing the building and their average quarterly gas bill is circa $95 - $135. For the last 5 years since I moved in my average quarterly gas bill has been circa $320. Sometimes just under $400. In my online AGL My Account it indicates a projected bill for the current quarter of $499. I can assure you there has been no fluctuation in my normal gas use. 

I am naturally concerned that all available evidence seems to indicate that I have been substantially overcharged for my natural gas for the five years I have lived here. You have a number of other ongoing cases with agl clients within this building (some were overcharged more than $2000 for the quarter).  So this may be something AGL need to get proactive with solving the apparent problem which would seem to stem from insufficient diligence around meter reading and identifying unusual and improbable spikes in individual apartment's quarterly gas bills.

As much as I understand that the possible reasons for my bills put forward by AGL so far, may in other cases be plausible contributing factors  as possible contributing factors, they clearly cannot the case here. We are really dealing with extremes here with an apartment with just not enough gas using items to justify a bill anywhere near the ones I am receiving.

Additionally, all my bills state "actual" meter rereads, which (correct me if I'm wrong) I believe to mean that an AGL representative has physically carried out the meter reads. The building managers have hard evidence that this has never happened so this is obviously a concern to me as an AGL customer.

I hope AGL can work with me toward a fair resolution on this matter.. There seems an overwhelming amount of evidence (including other cases you already know about and have had to resolve in your'e client's favour) and hard fact that I have been substantially overcharged for five years. I feel that as a long term AGL customer that I deserve your consideration on correcting this issue both now and over the five year period I have lived in this apartment with AGL as my energy supplier.

Kind regards

Philip Waller

[Ellen1]

Hi Waller! 

Thank you for your reply. 

I can understand the chance of an overcharge can be very concerning, and we absolutely want to support you in getting this resolved. 

Obviously you have tried to get this resolved yourself, so in your circumstance I would ask that you please send us a private message so I can look into the more specifics of your account to get you the resolution you need. 

You can do this by clicking on my name "Ellen_1" and sending a private message. 

Thank you 

Ellen

[Waller]

Hi Ellen

I tried clicking Ellen 1 to send you a private message but it takes me to a page where there does not appear to be a personal message function.

I will attempt to find you but until then I have a question for you.

Am I misunderstanding the metre reading?

My last bill has an end read on my WT metre of 05167.92  (reading 14 Feb). However my WT metre is showing a current reading of 00054.66 (reading 29 Feb)

Im assuming that the current reading total keeps accumulating and each 90 days increase over the period is my gas usage. Is that right? 

[-Steve-]

This would indicate an issue if there is a major discrepancy between the meter read on the bill and the meter itself. The usage recorded on the meter should keep accumulating.

So we can investigate further for you please click here to get in touch via phone or messenger with your account details and current meter reads.