Victorians to be hit with major power bill changes this year

Three power bill changes are set to hit countless Victorians in the next 10 months as a new system for setting prices is established.

Hundreds of thousands of Victorians will be hit with three power bill changes in 10 months as a new system for setting prices is established.

The confusing string of tariff tinkering can be revealed as electricity providers come under fire for disconnecting 6335 Victorians during Covid — some of whom reported experiencing financial difficulties — between December 2020 and May this year.

The first tariff change, which was recently approved by the regulator, is a price hike for households and businesses on default offers on September 1 — when electricity providers pass through an increase in costs related to distributing power to properties.

Customers on market offers are also being whacked with the poles and wires cost increase as early as August 1, with the Essential Services Commission approving a hike of up to $6 a month for homes and up to $32 a month for small businesses.

Default tariffs will then change again on January 1, due to a delay in approving the regulated price by regulators, and then on July 1 next year as part of a regular price-setting cycle.

Policy manager at social service group Vinnies, Gavin Dufty, said the flurried price changes came at a difficult time for many people.

“This is very confusing for consumers and feeds the uncertainty of COVID-19,” he said.

“Now is a good time to refresh your bill, jump on the government’s Victorian Energy Compare website to check the best deal for you, and if you’ve got any queries or concerns get in touch with your retailer.”

Consumer Action Law Centre senior policy officer Patrick Sloyan said power providers needed to “step up” and look after paying customers ahead of the swell of price changes, which come amid a shift from calendar year to financial year price determinations.

“It is very confusing, so people have a really hard time understanding their bills and understanding the process,” Mr Sloyan said.

Hundreds of thousands of Victorians will be hit with three power bill changes in 10 months as a new system for setting prices is established.

“We’ve been pretty disappointed with the behaviour we’ve seen by energy retailers over the past six months or so.

“The quick return to business as normal for energy companies in terms of disconnections … is totally at odds with what many parts of the community are going through, and for that reason, we would like to see regulators and the companies themselves step up.”

Despite the price changes, Essential Services Commission chairwoman Kate Symons said even with the latest increase a household on the default offer would still pay about $140 less over this year, compared to 2020.

While the latest energy market report by the Essential Service Commission showed Victorian energy prices were down 11 per cent compared to last year, Energy and Water Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said providers left some customers who were experiencing financial difficulties behind.

We do see some customers fall through the cracks, which is a really unfortunate and really inappropriate outcome,” she said.

“The Essential Services Commission has asked that businesses aren’t disconnecting customers while we’re in lockdown because it’s pretty tough to have the electricity cut off when you’re not allowed to go anywhere.”

The price changes come as the solar feed-in tariff that offsets many customers’ electricity bills by paying them for extra energy sent to the grid will drop from 10.2 cents to 6.7 cents per kilowatt hour.

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