Power to the people: Meter shock sparks power bill proposal

VICTORIANS would potentially save hundreds of dollars on their power bill under a proposal to allow customers to read their own electricity and gas meters instead of relying on dodgy estimates.

VICTORIANS would potentially save hundreds of dollars on their power bill under a proposal to allow customers to read their own electricity and gas meters instead of relying on dodgy estimates.

Power companies could face fines for sending their customers inaccurate bills based on estimates rather than usage, after the Australian Energy Market Commission backed a push by Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg to place more power in the hands of customers.

The move comes as the NSW and Tasmanian premiers yesterday urged Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to sign up to the National Energy Guarantee at a pivotal meeting today, which they say will lower power prices and reduce the risk of blackouts.

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP Image/Alex Murray

Under a draft determination by the AEMC, households would be able to submit a photograph of their power meter when they receive a bill they believe to be wrong.

Mr Frydenberg said the proposed changes would stop customers being ripped off by companies overcharging them.

“While some retailers already offer their customers the ability to submit a self-reading of their meter, these changes will ensure everyone has the ability to rectify an inaccurately estimated bill,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Ahead of today’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting between energy ministers, Mr Frydenberg urged the Victorian government to back the NEG for the sake of “Victorians and the national interest”.

Mr Frydenberg said the Andrews government’s eleventh hour list of demands, including a push for the national emissions target to be in regulation rather than legislation, was “a result of the Greens dictating Labor policy”.

Australian Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg. Picture: AAP Image/Alex Murray

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman said the Andrews government’s demands were based “solely on crass politics” and were designed to “frustrate and delay this much-needed improvement to the nation’s energy system”.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said other states should put the public interest first and sign up to the NEG which would deliver “lower prices and a more reliable electricity system”.

Greens MP Adam Bandt, whose party opposes the NEG, said he would move in the Senate on Monday an order requiring the government to release the full modelling of the policy.

Eleven major manufacturing companies, along with industry group Chemistry Australia, held a roundtable with Victorian Industry Minister Ben Carroll this week, calling on his government to back the NEG.

Chemistry Australia chief executive Samantha Read said the companies warned that any more delays “were a further risk to jobs and the viability of operations”.

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