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Changes from 1 July 2021
New tariff structure changes for electricity
Some residential and business electricity customers in Victoria changed to a new tariff structure from 1 July 2021. These customers were notified of the tariff structure change in early June 2021, and received a notice about their rates are changing in mid-June 2021.
These customers may have the option to opt out of this time of use tariff structure and change to a flat or demand tariff by contacting us.
A tariff is the price you’re charged for the energy you use. A tariff structure is the combination of rates, additional charges, and other factors that determine what prices are charged. There are three tariff types: time of use (TOU) where rates vary at certain times of the day or night; demand tariffs where you’re charged based on your peak instantaneous usage; and flat tariffs, where the same price is charged day and night.
For some business customers a demand tariff was introduced. Demand tariffs, or demand charges, are billed based on your highest demand for electricity in kilowatts (kW) during a 30 minute interval. They’ve been designed to encourage less electricity use during peak demand times when there’s more pressure on the grid.
The type of tariff you have will usually depend on your network tariff, which is determined by your electricity distributor (the company responsible for the poles and wires in your network area) based on the type of meter you have.
Our electricity retail market offers in Vic.
Our electricity retail market offer rates changed on 1 July 2021 for the following plans - Total Plan Home, Total Plan Plus Home, Total Plan Business, Total Plan Plus Business, Business Carbon Neutral and Business Balance.
Changes from 1 August 2021
All Victorian customers on non-fixed rate electricity market retail offer plans, including Anytime Saver, Flexi Saver, Flexi Saver Business Everyday Saver Business and Business Balance have changed on this date.
Changes from 1 September 2021
Electricity rates changed for some of our customers in Victoria from 1 September 2021.
These include,
- All Victorian customers on our Basic Home electricity plan
- Customers on an electricity standing offer tariff (also known as the Victorian Default Offer, or VDO) received a tariff structure change notice advising their rates would be changing from 1 July 2021. This now happened on 1 September 2021 to align with the Essential Services Commission (ESC) notification that the VDO changed on 1 September 2021. We apologise for this late change, but it means that these customers will avoid receiving two rate change updates within two months.
Changes from 1 October 2021
Solar
We’re currently reviewing our feed-in tariffs and they may change from 1 October 2021.
Important note for fixed rate electricity plan customers: Your solar feed-in tariffs are an add-on to your plan, which means they’re not fixed and may change.
What’s a market retail offer?
An energy plan with the prices set by the retailer (that’s us) typically with a benefit or incentive (e.g. a discount or a credit to your bill) for a fixed amount of time.
Customers not impacted:
- Our Managed Builder Partners
For existing customers
Emails or letters went out to affected customers during the following periods,
- Mid-June 2021 to let you know if there is a change to your rates from 1 July 2021.
- Mid-July 2021 to let you know if there is a change to your rates from 1 August 2021.
- Mid-August 2021 to let you know if there is a change to your rates from 1 September 2021.
You can also view your new rates on your first bill issued after the date that applies to you.
For new customers
Our current rates can be found here for residential customers and here for business customers .
You’ll also be able to contact us.
- For residential customers call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am-8.00pm)
- For business customers call us on 1800 249 630 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–6.30pm)
The Essential Services Commission (ESC) have released new prices.
If you’re on a Basic Home or Basic Business electricity plan on a:
- Flat rate or a flat rate with controlled load, your rates have changed.
- Standing offer time of use rate. This rate changed to the Victorian Default Offer rate.
If you are on these plans, we sent you an email or letter to let you know about the rate change.
View our new Basic Home and Basic Business rates.
Find out more about the Victorian Default Offer.
In an email or letter to let you know about the rate change.
You can also view your new rates on your first bill issued after the date your rates change.
Fees and charges eg: reconnection and disconnection fees will change from 2 August 2021.
The amount your electricity and gas bill will change by will depend on your usage, the energy plan you're on and the distribution area you live in.
When we sent you an email or letter to let you know about the rate change, we provided an estimated cost or saving of the change.
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 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’.
Electricity customers on the Victorian Default Offer rates
The Victorian Default Offer rates are set by the Essential Services Commission (ESC) in Victoria. The ESC reviews the reference price every year on 1 January.
The rates used to calculate your energy bills are made up of both usage rates and supply charges.
- The supply charge is a fixed daily service charge to supply energy to your home or small business
- Usage charges are rates charged for the energy you use. Some tariffs have different usage rates depending on the time of day and day of the week you use energy.
- Demand tariffs or demand charges, are billed based on your highest demand for electricity in kilowatts (kW) during a 30 minute interval. They’ve been designed to encourage less electricity use during peak demand times when there’s more pressure on the grid.
Rates are also known as tariffs. For more information go to our tariff pages.
Typically, we review our rates every year:
- in Victoria rate changes usually occur in January and the Essential Services Commission (ESC) reviews the Victorian Default Offer price every year on 1 January.
- in Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia they tend to happen in July and the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) reviews the Default Market Offer price every year on 1 July.
There may be occasions where a rate change needs to happen at another time.
You can have important notices, including information about rate changes sent direct to your email inbox. Here’s how:
- Register or log in to My Account
- 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 upcoming rate changes once you log in.
Your bill will be split pro-rata:
- all rates and charges before and after the change will be detailed on the bill
- your bill will be calculated with the old rates for any of the billing period before the rate change date
- your bill will be calculated with the new rates for the billing period after the rate change date.
The short answer is yes.
A Regular Pay plan is a convenient way to pay your 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 My Account
- chat with us by clicking on the Need Help? Button at bottom of our home page
- For residential customers call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–8.00pm)
- For business customers call us on 1800 249 630 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–6.30pm)
We’ll be happy to help.
We’re all for helping you find smarter ways to use energy. Just head to our ‘Better Energy’ blog to find tips on how to reduce your energy bills, info on going solar, the latest on battery storage and more.
If you receive a Life Support rebate, the daily rate has moved in line with any overall change in rates for your home electricity bills from the date your rates change.
There's no change to PureEnergy GreenPower.
We’re currently reviewing our feed-in tariffs and they may change from 1 October 2021.
Important note for fixed rate electricity plan customers: Your solar feed-in tariffs are an add-on to your plan, which means they’re not fixed and may change.
Yes, the cost of your bulk hot water changed on 1 January 2021. You’ll find this rate on your rate change letter or your bill issued from the 1 January 2021.
- chat with us by clicking on the Need Help? Button at bottom of our home page
- For residential customers call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–8.00pm)
- For business customers call us on 1800 249 630 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–6.30pm)
We’ll be happy to help.
Outside of these hours?