Victorian households to be slugged by energy price rises between 10 and 20 per cent

VICTORIAN households are about to be hit by prices rises of more than $450 to their annual electricity and gas costs.

VICTORIAN households face a huge $470 jump in their electricity and gas bills.

The Sunday Herald Sun can exclusively reveal the state’s third largest energy retailer — Energy Australia — is rolling out significant price jumps in 2018 that will push electricity bills up by 14.9 per cent and gas bills by 13.5 per cent.

From January 2 the average residential customer will be slugged an extra $278 a year for electricity, pushing their annual bill to $2134.

And gas customers will pay an extra $192 a year, pushing the average annual bill to $1612.

All other retailers’ price increases for 2018 will be announced on December 1, and it is expected there will be similar increases across the market, adding further financial pain in the new year. Since 2013, the average Victorian has paid an eye-watering $795 more a year for gas and electricity.

Mark Lennox, 32 and his partner Sarah Tirtilas, 28, recently switched energy providers because they were paying too much on their power bills. Picture: Sarah Matray

The surge in electricity charges has been blamed on the steep climb in wholesale energy prices — electricity bought by retailers on behalf of customers — and the closure of coal-fired power stations including Hazelwood.

Energy Australia’s chief customer officer Kim Clarke said wholesale electricity prices have risen about 55 per cent since the start of the year and this pain was being passed on to customers.

“With this (latest) price increase that we have got there is zero retail margin increase in that,’’ she said.

“Since August, calls to our contact centre are up 30 per cent and it’s easy to under­stand people are looking for a better deal on energy.”

To minimise the pain, Ms Clarke said the retailer is offering customers — both new and existing — to sign up to their Secure Saver two-year energy plan, which locks in energy prices on both electricity and gas for 24 months and will put the “pause button” on price rises.

Energy Australia’s chief customer officer Kim Clarke. Picture: Aaron Francis

Customers have until January 31 to sign up to the Secure Saver and avoid the January price rises

Ms Clarke said it was designed to “remove that pain as much as possible” and win customers’ trust back.

St Vincent de Paul’s energy expert Gavin Dufty said the coming price rises could mean increases of 10 to 20 per cent.

“For households on quarterly bills you are not going to see the full impact of these rises until February and March and that’s a particularly tough time for households,’’ he said.

“There’s back-to-school costs and the post-Christmas and holiday credit squeeze so it puts a lot of pressure on household budgets.”

Financial comparison website Mozo’s spokeswoman Kirsty Lamont said energy price rises would continue and people should shop around.

“Energy bills are the second biggest household cost after the mortgage or the rent, so an increase of around 13-14 per cent will be a huge pain point for many households,’’ she said.

“When it comes to energy, if you are not shopping around you are not saving because energy providers generally reserve their biggest discounts and best deals for new customers.

“If you have been with the same energy provider for a few years, chances are you are paying a lot more than you could be.”

SWITCHING TO SAVE
DISGRUNTLED consumers Mark Lennox, 32, and his partner Sarah Tirtilas, 28, were fed up with rising energy prices and decided to jump retailers to save.

The pair, who have a two-bedroom home in Melbourne’s eastern suburb of Kew, said the switch had left them with hundreds of dollars extra in their pockets.

Mark Lennox and his partner Sarah Tirtilas were fed up with rising prices. Picture: Sarah Matray

“We were paying $1270 per year and now our bills have come down to $1056, so a 17 per cent reduction is pretty good,’’ Mr Lennox said.

“I think everyone is fed up having to pay more for something, even private health insurers keep increasing the prices, so you start to question how you are being impacted.”

Mr Lennox said his previous provider couldn’t match his new energy retailer’s rates so it was an easy decision.

@sophieelsworth