Power to the people: energy firms must alert customers how to save up to $1400

ELECTRICITY bills could fall by up to $1400 after big energy­ companies agreed to measures forcing them to tell customers when they are paying too much.

• Make electricity more affordable: drop the GST
• Energy crisis: 1.2m households struggle to pay bills

ELECTRICITY bills could fall by up to $1400 after big energy­ companies agreed to measures forcing them to tell customers when they are paying too much.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that of about 1170 different electricity plans, more than a third have no contract terms and more than 80 per cent do not even require the retailer to tell customers when their discount deals expire.

That leaves people paying top dollar when those deals are up; when simply switching to a different plan could save them hundreds of dollars, up to $1400 in some cases, ­according to the energy regulator.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his deputy Barnaby Joyce head to the meeting with energy bosses in Canberra yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and Treasurer Scott Morrison talking with electricity company bosses in Canberra. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Energy bosses, summoned to Canberra yesterday by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, agreed they would contact all customers whose discount contracts had expired and tell them how much they could save on a new deal.

“Our goal is that no Australian family should be paying more for electricity than they need,” Mr Turnbull said. “Everybody is time-poor. The truth is that retailers benefit from customers’ inertia.”

Of 1178 residential electricity deals on the east coast, 420 have no contract terms and 631 revert to a higher price after a fixed period of discounts.

AGL, Origin Energy, Energy­Australia and a string of smaller companies have until next Friday to report back to the government.

AGL boss Andy Vesey denied that the company “reverted” customers to higher-priced contracts after a discount period had ended.

AGL, EnergyAustralia and Origin control 90 per cent of the state’s energy market and have been responsible for an almost 200 per cent jump in household bills, despite­ the cost of generating electricity stagnating.

Three of the big energy retailers’ bosses summoned to Canberra for crisis talks listen to Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Kym Smith

But energy companies pushed the government to adopt the entire Finkel Review report­ into electricity market reform, including a contentious Clean Energy Target.

“While we don’t have a magic wand to fix everything alone, retailers are on a path to make energy simpler and to start providing relief to customers,” Origin’s chief executive Frank Calabria said.

“But let’s be clear, to deliver a genuine reduction in prices … we must also find a way through on energy policy, including a Clean Energy Target. This is necessary to unlock investment in much-needed new supply to replace our ageing coal-fired power stations.”