What, Why and When?
On 1 January 2020, our electricity and gas rates will change for some of our customers in Victoria.
The following customers that will be affected by the rate change are:
- All customers on our Basic Home plan
- All customers on our Basic Business plan
- Bulk Hot Water
For existing customers
We will send you an email or letter to let you know about the rate change. You’ll be able to view your new rates on your first bill issued after 1 January 2020.
For new customers
Our current rates can be found here. Basic Home and Basic Business plans will change from 1 January 2020.
You’ll also be able to contact us on 1800 001 772 Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 8.00pm AEST, from this date.
The Essential Services Commission (ESC) are currently reviewing 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 will change.
- Standing offer time of use rate. This rate will change to the Victorian Default Offer rate.
We will send you an email or letter to let you know about the rate change.
Find out more about the Victorian Default Offer.
In an email or letter to let you know about the rate change.
Your new rates will also appear on the first bill issued to you from 1 January 2020.
No. There’ll be no other changes to our fees and charges.
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 send you an email or letter to let you know about the rate change, we’ll provide you with 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.
Rates are also known as tariffs. For more information go to our tariff pages.
Most energy retailers review their rates annually:
- 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.
You can have important notices, including information about rate changes sent direct to your email inbox. 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 upcoming rate changes once you log in.
If you sign up to our Basic Home or Basic Business plans before 1 January 2020, we’ll send you a welcome pack with all the important information, such as the energy plan details and current rates you agreed to. You will be charged these rates until our rates change.
If you prefer fixed rates that don’t rise during the life of the plan, you can easily compare and switch to one of our other fixed rate plans in around 5 minutes.
See our residential plans
See our business plans
For those customers that have been advised that their rates are changing, the new rates will appear on the first bill issued to you after our rates change, together with a message reminding you of the rate change.
If you’re planning on joining us after 1 January 2020, your welcome pack will include the new rates.
All our new rates will be listed here energyaustralia.com.au/EPFS from 1 January 2020. Or, you can call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 8.00pm AEDT).
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 energyaustralia.com.au/myaccount
- chat with us
- call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8am–8.00pm AEST) and 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 will move in line with any overall change in rates for your home electricity bills from 1 January 2020.
There's no changes to PureEnergy GreenPower.
Yes, the cost of your bulk hot water will change changed on 1 January 2020. You’ll find this rate on your rate change letter or your bill issued from the 1 January 2020.
- chat with us clicking on the Need Help? Button at bottom of our home page
- call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–8.00pm AEST) and we’ll be happy to help.
Outside of these hours?