Ridiculous high electricity bill

[Lina-fb]

I just received my 3 month electricity bill, we are only 2 person living in a small apartment and the bills showed up $535! How is that possible!? Should be max $280 previously same months of the year, living with other 2, 3 in total, our bill was $270.

how this could happened? can it be a mistake with the meter!?

[NeilC]

Prices raised as from 1st July and increased by a minimum of 22%.

Look at your bill and you will see the periods that you paid for.

I had 4 price changes on my last bill finishing on 6th July 23.

My bill went from being paid for my solar ($161 credit for quarter) to new bill of owing $106 for this quarter.

Was I surprised, no, was I disappointed, yes. I got emails about the price rise, it was all over the media, I even changed my plan on the 26th June so I would get a better rate on the  1st July.

Everything went up, supply charge, electricity charges but solar rates went down.

Your bill should explain it all, if you don't have a smart meter, your whole bill will be averaged for the 90 days but this will be showing on your bill.

Review your plan and change to a better plan or if you think you can get better change providers.

The long term is that it will not drop in the short term.

Work out how to save usage, reduce heating costs by adding a few more clothes, turn down the electric blanket and wear PJ's etc.

[paloma1]

I had a smart meter recently installed as I was told my reading were too low (!) therefore not correct. I have minimal usage of electricity (no dishwasher, drier, do my showers at gym, heating and cooking on gas etc). The smart meter gave an average reading of more than 2 and half the amount of previous same season quarters. Previously I sent of photo of the reading, but with this meter this feature is no longer available. So, no way for the customer to double check.

[NeilC]

@paloma1

Before you jump the gun, one of the main advantages of SMART METERS is the ability of the user to be able to see in REAL TIME their usage.

Now before you get too excited REAL TIME (although it should be possible) takes AGL up to three days to get the data, however as soon as they receive the data it is available as a download and in a visual form via the AGL APP and on the web via your individual account.

Using the app you can keep an eye on your costs (very roughly) without even opening the app.

If you are not into apps and have a MAC, Windows PC, Linux / Unix or a Tablet, you can log onto your account and see it all in a large format.

However I should point out to you that when using the app (or the web) the information you see is not shown in the correct times. Usage ends at MIDNIGHT it does not start, on the AGL graphs it start by saying you have used power at midnight, it is in fac and the power you used from midnight to 1am (01:00) the last reading of the day, they say its 11pm (23:00) is the power you used from 23:00 till Midnight.

If you have not setup to use your account you should take the time and go to https://www.agl.com.au/ and have a look around and maybe even create your account.

The APP is available  by installing from your App Store for your device.

You will require to have an Email Account to operate either the App or the Web Portal.

Once you have set up your access, you can then quickly see your usage for up to two years.

Above you can see see my usage and approximate costs.

Now I say approximate because unless you are on a single rate tariff they are not exact but give a you a good guideline.

Because I have a Smart Meter I can tell you EXACTLY how much I have used in my current billing cycle.

I, like you, claim to be a low user and I know that my usage is higher because of the fact that due to overcast days (with no rain) and this is shown by my high Shoulder Usage.

Here is the costings for my next bill so far (29 days) the $265 on the right is the amount I would have to pay if I had no solar. However this is not really correct because it includes the solar that I used out of my generation.

Anyway, I thought you said that there is no way for a customer to check.

Are you saying you are using 2.5 times the power or 2.5 times the cost?

People get confused about increases.

Say you paid $150 for your bill are you saying the new one is now $375?

My last bill was a credit of $161 compared to a debit of $134 projected for this one. That is very close to a $300 difference because of the price rises.

But, if I apply the new rates to my last bill I would have had to pay $162 a difference of only $28.00...

Just to inform you in my last bill I went through FOUR price changes....

Hope this helps

Maybe if you put up some details, actual usage before meter change to current usage (not costs), as you can see from me, a lot of price difference, very little usage change.

Have you checked your plan (which you can do with the App or the Web interface) to make sure you are on the right plan, there may be a cheaper one available.

We (the members of the neighbourhood) would like to assist if we can.

By the way, I could have just said, I think you should just check your figures, before going into explanations with graphics and REAL examples.

[mirk]

 Look at your bill carefully and see if it says Actual Read or Estimate read. If it is Estimate, do your own reading of the meter, take picture of it and submit the reading online or call them with your meter reading. Hope this helps.