The one easy thing you could do to save $317 a year on your bills

Customers who don’t update their energy plans are paying about $317 more a year than those who shop around, according to an electricity price report released by the competition watchdog on Monday.

Energy bills have been reduced nationwide, chiefly through federal and state subsidies, but the annual survey from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found that households prepared to switch providers were saving 17 per cent more than their loyal counterparts.

ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey says customers who have not changed electricity plans in the past 12 months are probably paying more than they need to.Credit: Oscar Colman

The gap was biggest in Victoria, where loyal customers paid about 19 per cent, or $291, more on their annual energy bills than those who switched providers. In NSW, the difference was 15 per cent, or $297, while South Australians saw the largest dollar-value difference at $334.

Flat-rate offers in these states and South East Queensland dropped in the year to August, sliding 4 per cent on average. The cost of “time-of-use” offers, which charge different rates based on when customers use electricity, decreased by 5.5 per cent, while those on demand offers – pricing plans that charge customers based on the maximum amount of power they use during peak times – saw the least benefit.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) commissioner Anna Brakey urged customers to contact their electricity provider to ask if a cheaper electricity plan was available.

“If you haven’t changed electricity plans in the past 12 months, chances are you are paying more for your electricity than you need to,” she said.

Federal energy bill relief and rebates in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania also cut power bills. Electricity prices dropped 17 per cent in the three months to September, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The reduction in power bills, along with lower fuel prices, were major reasons for the fall in overall inflation to 2.8 per cent in the September quarter.

Excluding the rebates, electricity prices would have risen by 0.7 per cent.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the commission’s report showed the government’s efforts to take some of the sting out of electricity prices were making a meaningful difference.

“Our energy rebates are an important part of the story here, but not the whole story,” he said, noting the increase in people shopping around for a better deal, stronger competition between retailers and better conditions in international energy markets.

It comes as the major parties spar over the future of the energy sector. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has made the contested claim that his $331 billion nuclear energy plan would be 44 per cent cheaper over 25 years than Labor’s plan to transition to a system substantially reliant on renewable energy.

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