"Adds and alt charge" on electricity bill

[NeilAGLUser]

Wondering if anyone else has a charge on their AGL electricity bill under the Other Charges section called "Adds and alt charge"? 

Because it had no explanation (or even a date of the extra charge) I decided to question it. Wow, what a saga...

The AI assistant in the online chat had no idea and referred me to an operator. The operator had no idea and told me I'd have to call the Resolutions team on 131 245. Called that number, asked for the Resolutions team, but still had to explain the situation to the first person, who said I'd have to speak with the New Connections team (even though I questioned this because it wasn't a new connection). The New Connections person had no idea and said they'd (finally) have to transfer me to the Resolutions team (Yay!?). The Resolutions person said there was something on their system saying it was a charge passed on from Ausgrid on a certain date, but he'd have to call Ausgrid to find out more details. Eventually he came back and said Ausgrid won't give more details over the phone and AGL would have to email them to request more information. The Resolutions person said he'd done that, and would contact me when he had a response...

That's about an hour of my life I'll never get back, and I'm still still awaiting for an answer. As I told each person I spoke with, AGL shouldn't randomly add extra charges to the bill called "Adds and alt charge" without any further detail or any way to explain it when questioned!

[SYED_AGL]

Hi @NeilAGLUser 

Thanks for reaching out and sorry to hear this trouble. 

Typically these adds and alts charges are on the bill when there is some metering works get done on the meter. 

please share your account details via private message, so I can personally look into this or escalate t furtherr if needed to get to the bottom of it.. 

We are here to help!

SYED 

[WOODYWOODUCK · Accepted solution]

IVE JUST SPOKEN WITH AGL. ITS AN ADMIN FEE FOR AUSGRID TO TICK A BOX ON YOUR ACCOUNT TO SAY YOU NOW HAVE 'A BATTERY' INSTALLED. 

[NeilAGLUser]

Perhaps that's the reason for the charge because we did have a solar
battery installed, though it was done in the previous month, not during the
timeframe covered by the bill this charge appeared in.

My main beef is with AGL's total lack of ability to explain the charge when
questioned. Still no answer from them, so I'm surprised they were able to
provide you an explanation!

[Mick5]

Yes I’ve just received my bill showing exactly that for an additional $35.00 and I’ve never seen this before ever and there hasn’t been any Ausgrid work done in my area nor any meter upgrade work as I already upgraded my smart meter 3 years ago when installing solar and that was a free upgrade anyway. It definitely should have an explanation attached with it and I’m betting this is just a random exploit that is totally unnecessary with their billions profits and this is why they give us the run around to try to get answers? It should be investigated by the ACCC for plain out price gouging the public without explanation!

[Mick5]

Yes I have installed a battery and we all pay our installers the fee they incur to get approval from our DNS (Ausgrid in this case) so how rude to pass on another fee to tick the retailers box?

When I signed up to the plan it already was for solar and battery plan so hey fair go AGL? Does this mean every time we change retailers we get this new fee now? Greed and profit that’s all it is clear and simple!

[Mick5]

A blind man on a galloping horse can see we have a battery installed when our grid usage suddenly drops or stops altogether? It’s just another price gouging rip off by greedy corporate empires!

[Mick5]

A blind man on a galloping horse can see we have a battery installed when our grid usage suddenly drops or stops altogether?

[NeilAGLUser]

Yes it does seem like a poor excuse for another charge. If only the bill had stated the reason I'd have begrudgingly paid it and moved on, but the problem these days is so many people are either making mistakes or trying to rip us off, so we have to question things like this.