Time of day tariffs

[WGD]

My new rates table that will come into force on May 13th this year shows a Low Season Demand rate of 0.00000 between 2pm and 8pm on working week days during 2 x 2month periods during the year. Does this really mean that I will not be charged anything for power during these times?

[Lester]

Possibly.

Some states / regions are getting such deals.

Can you advise your state / region ?

2pm - 8pm, I'm thinking maybe WA ??

Being state owned and not in NEM, they seem to be the state that has most of these really good deals.

[WGD]

Sydney, NSW.

[Lester]

..

Certainly can't see any AGL plans with a zero solar soak type rate plan in the sydney metro area.

I suggest unless you are some sort of hidden away plan with a special solar type VPP deal then it probably is an error.

A quick call to AGL will sort it out I'm sure.

[WGD]

I don't have solar.

[Lester]

I feel it would be a mistake then, as far as I know NSW gets similar types of deals on power as other NEM states, albeit at less costly tariffs than here in SA.

You might wait for an AGL rep to message you here and ask for more info by private message, but it'd be much faster to call their main number and get it sorted over the phone.

https://www.agl.com.au/help-support/contact-us 

Good luck.

[WGD]

Yep, that's exactly what I will be doing on Monday. Thank you everybody for your replies.

I did have an online chat with AGL on Thursday 27th and asked the AGL rep:-

• I said "should I use power during the low season demand period will I be charged anything? It says 00.000c/KW".
• Their response "you will not be charged anything as it has 0 rates for low season demand".
• I said "Sounds like a good time to use my pool pump".
• Their response "The demand charge for the period will be 0". followed by "Yes you can definitely use the appliances as per time to save maximum on your bills. Do you want me to share the timelines?".

Maybe I'm getting confused with exactly what "demand billing" is.

I will post again after I have spoken with AGL.

[Lester]

Ahhh, the demand charge !!

Sorry, I totally missed that in your first post, thinking it was some sort of low demand period.

Well, it is, sort of, they obviously only charge demand tariff in the highest peak demand seasons around summer and winter.

Those are awful plans for many, be very, VERY careful how you use power in peak times when in the dates AGL have this in place !!

Have a read here . . . I think Ausgrid is your supplier . . .

https://www.ausgrid.com.au/Your-Energy-Use/Understanding-Network-Tariffs/An-introduction-to-Demand-T... 

Note, they advise to . . . ask your retailer for the days and times their peak window applies, as well as how they calculate it.

Bottom line, if you use several high draw appliances during peak times AGL set, and you have a high demand, let's say 2kwh or 3kwh in a 30 min interval, even for ONE time, that is charged for the entire months peak times !!

I believe these tariffs are totally unfair, if you are great with power over a month and muck up once, you are penalised for the whole month of peak charging.

It's obviously brought in because demand on the grid in those two blocks of the year place immense pressure on our ability to supply enough power.

You are off the hook with those charges from May 13th to whenever AGL reintroduces them.

That could differ to Ausgrids website page by the looks.

[Lester]

Edit, a bit cheeky to be saying "Yes you can definitely use the appliances as per time to save maximum on your bills."

When it really should be "Yes you can definitely use the appliances as per time to not be charge extra on your bills."

[Lester]

Just for interest, I checked my lowest demand and highest peaks on my SA SAPN suppliers data page (we can login and download all sorts of info / data).

My usual peak demand (white circles) when it's just me and the wife here is around 4kwh for the day.

When our sons comes home, it's nearly 12kwh !!

I don't think SA has demand pricing (thankfully), and not sure how it would work with quarterly billing, which we are on.

I think SAPN calculate this demand point over a straight 24hrs, not a specific time range or seasonal, so that would probably not be the actual peak demand if it was applied here.