25 July 2009

Utilities - And how do I change them?

| Dazzlar
Join the conversation
20

Who provides you with your Gas and Electricity? Forget about reducing my carbon footprint I’m trying to reduce the footprints in my bank account! I am currently with ActewAGL for both but I understand that you can swap.

Has anyone here done it? If so, who did you swap to and what were the results? I know that you can bundle your accounts with ActewAGL but that doesn’t suit us. I come from Queensland and have never had Natural Gas supplied before and wonder if there are any tips for reducing these bills? I have rung ActewAGL and looked at their website but they don’t really give a straight forward answer, not in their interest to I guess!!

Thanks for any advice.

Join the conversation

20
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
Peewee Slasher3:47 pm 27 Jul 09

I just noticed the Google ad on the side bar. “Lowest Electricity Prices”.

Peewee Slasher3:45 pm 27 Jul 09

There are 18 retailers licensed in the ACT to sell electricity, however, not all actually do. Their strategic tactic is to pick off the large customers,e.g, Parliament House or the ANU.

There are 8 retailers licensed in the ACT to sell gas.

Go to:

http://www.icrc.act.gov.au/utilitieslicensing#current_licensees_electricity_gas_and_water

for the names of the companies.

All must use a carrier, i.e. the network company, therefore, profit margins are low and differneces in consumer costs are neglible.
“Competition through deregulation provides the consumer with lower energy prices” HA!!!

There is data here for 2007.
(http://www.greenelectricitywatch.org.au/results.php?where=act&sort=score)

I am not sure if there is more recent data, but you can at least follow it up.

As you can see, there are quite a few re-sellers, including Jackgreen (although I’m not sure if they still sell into the ACT or not).

GottaLoveCanberra – I was having a little joke re the imperceptible difference in gas or electricity since I switched suppliers. But thanks for explaining it to those who may have missed my sense of humour!

Gas heating can be really affordable but the trick is to run it under 20 degrees- a lot of my qld friends have mved here and cranked the heat to 22-24 and then had a rude shock at how much the winter heating bill is.

GottaLoveCanberra1:52 pm 26 Jul 09

aronde said :

I switched to TruEnergy. 3% off the standard gas and electricity tariffs and another 3% off if you pay on time. I switched online via their website quote thingy http://www.truenergy.com.au

And I have noticed no difference in the quality of the gas or electricity entering my premises 😉

That’s because you still receive your electricity through ActewAGL Distribution. All you’re doing is signing up with another retailer and if you ever have a physical supply problem at your premises you will still have ActewAGL attend to resolve the issue.

ActewAGL has two components when it comes to electricity, a retail component (who you normally deal with) and the Distribution component, who do the actual work on site.

I signed up with Energy Australia and from memory I receive about 9% off the electricity bill and about 6% off the gas bill. The first two year contract wasn’t as generous but when it came time to renew, they wanted to keep my business and gave me a good offer. Might have helped that I have slab heating and use quite a bit of off peak electricity.

Make sure you look into the various “plans” that ACTEW have for their electricity and gas. They default everybody onto the least suitable plan and switching is an easy way to save some money.

I’m with Country Energy, but they gouge rurals for 19c per kilowatt hour. However, they are very responsive when there’s a problem, I’ve had to call them a few times over the years when my power has gone (my power pole is rather exposed) and they’ve come out quickly in dreadful weather and fixed it.

OzChick – TruEnergy was a two year contract.

trevar – I asked TruEnergy about the solar feed in tariff and they said they do not do that currently – only ActewAGL

Install a solar array. ActewAGL will pay you 53c for every kilowatt you feed into the grid, and charge you 13c for every kilowatt you use from the grid. Of course the other utilities will probably pay/charge about the same.

Do you have to enter into a contract with any of these companies? I remember when I was researching this a few years ago, some companies require you to sign a 24 month contract. This is not exactly convenient if you are a renter. At the time I did not know if I was to stay at my place long term, so I just went with ACTEW.

swamiOFswank5:47 pm 25 Jul 09

I’m now in NSW but went with ACTEW as CountryEnergy’s customer service was absolutely useless. I’d booked them to connect me on the day before I moved in, but two days later, still no power and one very upset Swami. Called ACTEW and even though they purchase the lines or whatever from CE, they had the power on with in 24hrs. I’m very happy with ACTEW!!

Ill stick with the devil I know in this case I think as I don’t see TruEnergy investing in renewable energy projects like ACTEW (actual projects not “green” energy).

I actually found the service of ACTEW to be pretty good in recent years, I dont know where the other providers,,,,,, sorry, resellers base their call centres but its good to know I am speaking to a Canberran when I call ACTEW in relation to my bill.

I just checked my current bill against Truenergy and it’s cheaper with ActewAGL, not by much, but a little bit

gun street girl4:29 pm 25 Jul 09

I went with Country Energy, for the sole reason that they actively sought my business when they came to town. ACTEW had assumed people would just stay with them when a new biller rolled into town, and made no effort to retain our household on their books (or anyone else’s, to my knowledge). I decided not to reward complacency!

I wish this thread had existed when I bought my house earlier in the year. The power was still connected but the previous owner had skipped the country without paying the $300 bill for the quarter prior to the purchase. ACTEW decided they’d just whack it and the connection fee onto my account and it took several phone calls and my having to prove that I had only bought the house well after the account was issued before they would relent. Every time I see them advertising how wonderful they are I still have steam coming out of my ears! Might investigate some of the competition even now – that TruEnergy deal sounds good.

I switched to TruEnergy. 3% off the standard gas and electricity tariffs and another 3% off if you pay on time. I switched online via their website quote thingy http://www.truenergy.com.au

And I have noticed no difference in the quality of the gas or electricity entering my premises 😉

Country Energy operate in the ACT. I know they do Natural gas in NSW, but I don’t know about the ACT.

Whether there are any savings to be made over ACTEW is another thing too.

Thanks for reminding me, it’s time I abandoned ACTEW now that my bundling contract has finished, and find another utility. I think there is a NSW one – southern energy? – that operates in the ACT and you can contract to supply your gas and electricity.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.