What's changed?
As a result of this year's review, there were no rate increases for EnergyAustralia customers in ACT, SA & QLD. There were some changes for our New South Wales customers. Keep reading to find out what these changes mean to you.
New South Wales
As a result of this year’s review, the majority of EnergyAustralia’s electricity and gas customers did not see any changes in their rates in New South Wales.
There was a rate decrease:
Customers in New South Wales who have chosen our Secure Saver plan saw their electricity rates go down on 2 July 2018.
Changes to Ausgrid’s electricity time of use rate structure for both business and residential customers from 1 July 2018:
Ausgrid (the company responsible for the poles and wires across Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter region), changed its residential and business time of use pricing structure and introduced winter and summer ‘seasons’ from 1 July 2018. As a result of the changes to the time of use structure, we adjusted the tariffs across the three time zones (peak, shoulder & off peak). Further details about the changes can be found below.
Australian Capital Territory
As a result of this year’s review, there were no electricity or gas rate changes for our customers in the ACT.
South Australia
As a result of this year’s review, there were no electricity or gas rate changes for our customers in South Australia.
Queensland
On 2 July 2018, electricity rates for our customers Queensland went down. Any discount percentage or rebates available to you remain unchanged.
Victoria
Our annual review of prices for Victorian customers takes place in December so the mid-year review does not affect customers in Victoria.
Customers not impacted:
- Our Managed Builder Partners
- Customers on a Business Rate Fix plan.
New customers
Our rates can be found on our EPFS.
For impacted customers, your new rates will appear on the first bill issued to you from 2 July 2018.
Often a proportion of the energy we use is wasted. By changing some habits, you may be able to reduce the wastage. Check out our tips on how to save energy, time and money:
- Energy saving tips
- Tools to help you monitor and manage your energy use
- Advice on renewable energy sources
We also have energy saving tips available on the new EnergyAustralia app. View further information on the app.
Wholesale costs (the cost of buying and selling energy) and network costs (charged by network companies for the poles and wires) both went down in Queensland, which contributed to these reductions we passed on to our Queensland customers.
Although wholesale costs (the cost of buying and selling energy) and network costs (charged by network companies for the poles and wires) changed, we made a decision not to increase our customers’ electricity or gas rates in these states.
The majority of our customers did not see any rate increases, following this year’s review. Customers who saw a change are Time of Use customers in the Ausgrid distribution zone as well as Secure Saver customers whose rates decreased.
SA
- From 1 July, the South Australian Government increased the annual energy concession rate from $217.90. to $222.90 per year.
ACT
- From 1 July, the ACT Government increased the annual energy concession rate from $604.00 to $654.00 per year.
NSW
- There were no changes to concessions in NSW as a result of this rate review.
QLD
- There were no changes to concessions in QLD as a result of this rate review.
There were no changes to GreenPower in NSW, ACT, QLD or SA.
Your solar feed in tariff went up on 19 April 2018 to 16.1c/kWh. This means you’re now getting an additional 5.1c/kWh from us for every kWh of solar power you put into the grid.
There were no changes to the solar feed-in tariff for NSW, ACT, QLD or SA as a result of this rate review.
Queensland customers
There are many variables that can impact price and we can’t be sure what will happen during your benefit period. When you signed up to our Secure Saver plan, we promised that if our rates drop, yours will too. The new lower electricity rates were automatically applied to your account from 2 July 2018.
For New South Wales Securer Saver customers
There are many variables that can impact price and we can’t be sure what will happen during your benefit period. We wanted to reward you for signing up to Secure Saver by lowering your rates (both the daily supply charge and usage rates). These lower rates were automatically applied to your account from 2 July 2018 and will continue until the end of your benefit term.
For New South Wales Time of Use customers in the Ausgrid distribution zone, on Secure Saver
There are two good updates about your electricity. We want to reward you for signing up to Secure Saver by lowering your rates (both the daily supply charge and usage rates). These lower rates were automatically applied to your account from 2 July 2018 and will continue until the end of your benefit term.
The other good update is that your distributor, Ausgrid (the company responsible for the poles and wires in your area), recently changed its time of use structure and has introduced winter and summer ‘seasons’. The peak rates now only apply to winter and summer seasons only. These changes came into effect from 1 July 2018.
For New South Wales Time of Use customers in the Ausgrid distribution zone, not on Secure Saver
Ausgrid (the company responsible for the poles and wires across Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter region), changed its time of use pricing structure and introduced winter and summer ‘seasons’. Peak rates will apply to winter and summer seasons only.
For business customers in the Ausgrid zone with PowerSmart rates, all weekends will be entirely off-peak.
Following these changes to the Time of Use structure, we have adjusted our retail rates with some decreases and increases across the three time zones (peak, shoulder and off-peak). For most households, the combined impact of these changes will be either a small bill reduction or very little change. However, a small number of customers may see an increase on their bill.
As a result of this rate review, we’re not making any changes to your rates.
The rates used to calculate your energy bills are made up of both usage rates and supply charges.
The supply charge is the ‘fixed’ daily cost for providing you with electricity or gas.
The usage rate is the ‘variable’ cost based on the amount of energy you use.
Rates are also known as tariffs. For more information on tariffs structures visit our FAQs.
We review our rates annually which is driven by changes in network prices. The AER approves network prices that take effect from 1 January (Vic) and 1 July (everywhere else). These prices (along with wholesale and other government costs) contribute to our costs.
We’ll always notify you of any rate changes. If you’d like to have important notices, including information about rate changes sent direct to your email, here’s how:
- Register/log in to My Account at energyaustralia.com.au/myaccount
- update your ‘bill delivery preference’ to email, to receive your bills and rate change notices via email
- update your ‘communication preference’ to email, to receive important information about your account via email
When you register for My Account, you’ll also receive alerts about any upcoming rate changes.
Many of our customers find Regular Pay a convenient way to pay energy bills. Here’s how it works:
• you arrange to pay an instalment amount each week, fortnight or month
• you continue to receive your bills as usual. They’ll show how well your payments are covering your actual usage and charges
• we check to make sure you’re not paying too much or too little, and get in touch if anything needs to change.
Please contact us as soon as possible, so we can work with you to arrange an extension and/or set up a payment plan.
- visit energyaustralia.com.au/myaccount
- call us on 133 466 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–6.30pm AEST) and we’ll be happy to help.
Energy travels through four main stages on its journey from generation to the point where you turn on a switch. Each stage incurs costs that are passed on to you via your energy bill. It is changes in these four main areas that generally influence energy rate changes. These include:
• Wholesale costs – to purchase electricity and gas from generators and producers
• Network costs – charged by distributors for energy transmission, metering and maintenance of the pipes, poles and wires that delivers your energy
• Retail costs – charged by us for servicing and billing your account
• Other costs – incurred by us to comply with government schemes such as the Renewable Energy Target
To find out more, take a look at our video, ‘How energy gets to you’.
Call us on 133 466 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–6.30pm AEST) and we’ll be happy to help.