How to beat energy price rises and get a better deal

Energy companies are smashing us with price rises, but there’s an incredibly easy way to beat them and score $250 in the process.

Sick of being smashed by power companies? Time to exact revenge.

There’s never been a better time – not just because prices are rising but because you can make $250 in a flash.

Trust me, I just did.

But there’s also more cash (through savings) to be made if you put in a bit more effort.

Let me explain how.

Since last week, our family has been hit by the triple whammy of price shocks.

And I’m not including spending $120 to fill up the car with petrol at $2.30-a-litre.

I’m talking about the gas, electricity and interest rates combo.

First came our initial winter heating gas bill for winter, which was a punch in the guts.

Next, our electricity retailer politely alerted us to their prices going up.

Not by a little, mind you, but by $235 for the next year they said, based on our current rate of use.

All you need to save is a copy of a recent power bill.

After scrambling through the past year’s bills with a calculator, I worked out that we had spent $1354 in 12 months.

This includes some “discounts” that are applied to woo new customers.

But assuming that the $235 is based on my actual bills, not a theoretical construct without discounts, then my electricity provider is saying my costs are going up 17.4 per cent next year.

Given I’ve used the phrase “shop around” in energy price stories this year more times than I’ve had hot dinners this winter, I thought I’d take my own advice.

I jumped on the government’s energy comparison website, Vic Energy Compare, and started the process.

First, I had to upload a bill – which makes the entire process far swifter and simpler than manually typing in tariffs and prices per kilowatt hour.

After that, I had to fill out some private information, and consent to my data being collected.

There didn’t seem to be any unwarranted third parties that would get my data, only those that needed to have my information verified.

I then chose to have the $250 sent to a bank account rather than get a cheque, so needed to fill out details and confirm I wasn’t a robot.

That was it.

Our household’s $250 will be sent to my bank account within days.

Next step was the chance to review my energy deals and make more cash (through savings).

Once again, I uploaded a bill to show what my current usage is, so that the website could compare to other published offers.

It turns out I was on a good one for electricity, about $40 lower than alternative offers based on our household profile.

Where I was unsure, and therefore will require more effort to check with retailers directly, was whether the comparison offers already take into account looming price rises.

In which case, I would be $195 better off.

One expert said the key was to ensure it’s a fixed rate contract for the next 12 months – after that all bets are off.

So, I need to do some more work, and check my gas tariff.

For now, at least I’ll get $250 out of the government.

That should pay back recent increases in rego, licence payments, our daughter’s birth certificate, and water bills.

Or pay a couple of tanks of petrol.

Anyway, I’ve got to run, I’m off to call the bank about a better home loan rate.

Originally published as How to beat energy price rises and get a better deal