Deciphering your electricity bill
Nobody likes getting their electricity bill. Even if you’ve budgeted for the cost, it’s natural to wonder if you’re missing out on a better deal.
However, before you start shopping around, it pays to understand your power bill. RAA Senior Manager of Market Development Kerry Bowles has some advice for decoding your bill.
A staggering 79 per cent of residential customers could be paying less for their electricity, according to a recent Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) report. Understanding electricity bill jargon can be tricky, but it’s worth the effort to help save money.
Along with standard information – including your name, address, account number, amount owing (or in credit), the payment due date and billing period – your electricity bill includes some of these common terms, regardless of the retailer.
Supply charge
This is a fixed daily cost you pay no matter how much electricity you use. The supply charge helps cover the cost of getting electricity to your house or business, such as installing and maintaining the poles, wires, and other infrastructure.
Usage charge
This amount varies according to your tariff and how much energy you use (and what time of day) during the billing period. If your plan has a single-rate tariff, you’ll pay the same amount per kilowatt hour. But if you have a time-of-use tariff, you’ll be charged different amounts for peak and off-peak periods.
Contract (offer)
In SA, you can generally choose one of two offers. First, there’s the standing offer – a basic, no-frills option with standard terms and conditions set by law. Under a standing offer, the price can only change once every six months and there are no early-exit fees. Second, you can take a market offer that may have features such as discounts, fixed terms, different rates across the day and add-ons like reward points or access to streaming services. Although retailers can adjust these market offers, such as adding early-exit fees, they still contain terms and conditions to protect consumers.
Previous year comparison
Some electricity bills allow you to compare your energy use with the same period from previous years. The information is usually in graph format, and you can see if your energy use has increased or decreased in, say, one winter to the next. Remember, certain issues can affect energy use from year to year, such as weather, the number of people in your house, your habits, or the number, type and age of your appliances.
Sundries
Electricity bills also include information such as average daily energy consumption, payment options and access to special offers. It will also include who to contact if you’re moving house, if you’re having difficulty paying or if you need a language interpreter. Contact your retailer if any information you need is missing from your bill.
How can I use my bill to get a better deal?
If there’s one issue to understand about your bill, it’s your energy tariff(s) and when peak and off-peak periods occur. If you have a time-of-use tariff, you can alter your daily habits and save money. For example, you can run energy-hungry appliances like dishwashers, dryers and washing machines between 10am and 3pm when SA’s solar energy generation peaks and electricity is cheaper.