Our electricity bill is so high, I’m afraid to turn on the lights

“Are you sure you've got the right house? I don’t own a big factory!”

3 min read

June 13, 2024 - 1:47PM

Family Life

Don't miss out on the headlines from Family Life. Followed categories will be added to My News.

A Queensland family has had the shock of their life after receiving an unusually high energy bill, and nobody can figure out why it’s happening.

It’s no secret that life has become more expensive recently, but for mum-of-four Kylie, it's become almost intolerable.

When Kylie opened her quarterly electricity bill, she figured it would be higher than the average household, but she wasn’t expecting to see a bill for thousands of dollars.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

Kylie couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the power bill. Picture: ACA

“I was confused ... like, I don't own a big factory!”

She held the electricity bill in her hands, which explained she owed a whopping $1,774.79 for her family home.

Confused and shocked, the Brisbane mum-of-four gave the energy company, AGL, a call.

“Are you sure you've got the right house?” she asked them, per A Current Affair. “‘Yes,’ they said. ‘Yes.’”

“Straight away, I was confused ... like, I don't own a big factory!”

Naturally, she figured the skyrocketing bill was due to an overload of appliances being used in the house, so she started making changes.

Introducing our new podcast: Mum Club! Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

“Turn that off, turn this off, don’t charge your phone,” the Brisbane mum said.

“We have a fan on at night, a lamp; we have lamps in this house because I'm too scared to use normal lights.”

When the next bill landed in their mailbox, the family held their breath. The bill was lower this time, totaling $750, but “even that’s a lot” for the family to handle.

“Then the next few quarters, though, all over the $1,000, $2,000, $3,000,” she said, defeated.

It wasn’t long before the family got hit with the heftiest charge yet: $3,900.

Despite making an effort to cut down on their electricity, the bills were still sky-high. Picture: ACA

Family’s reported electricity usage could power five houses

To make matters even weirder, when Kylie requested an expert from AGL to come and check out the meter, they had no idea what could be causing the issue.

“We just averaged out the last two years of bills, and it was $15,000,” she said, shocked.

When the representative from Energex ran some checks on the home, he “rushed inside” and asked the Brisbane mum, “Oh my god, what have you got on?”

All she had running was the fridge.

“The watts were up so high that we had enough electricity going in here for like five houses,” Kylie recalled to ACA.

Following the unexplained electricity bill hike, AGL put a temporary hold on Kylie’s account. However, after a while without answers or an explanation, the Brisbane family were hit with more bills, totaling nearly $7,000.

An independent assessment was made by Justin Czarkowski at Just In Time, which indicated there was nothing out of the ordinary with their meter.

“Over $2500 a quarter, there's definitely some kind of concern there as to where that power's going,” he said.

“We measured the actual current with the fluke meter, and then compared that to what the meter is saying and those measurements are comparable, they're within a milliounce of each other.”

Despite that, these results don’t “really explain why you would be getting a $3,000 bill.”

Following the constant and ever-increasing bills, Kylie said she wants AG to do more to help out.

“They haven't emailed me, called me, left messages, nothing,” she said. “We've done the right thing with AGL and paid everything they've sent us except for the last one ... they need to give us a break.”

In response to the confusing and sky-high bills, AGL maintains the electricity bills are accurate.

You can read their full response below:

“We want to help our customers understand the safe and simple changes they can make around the home to conserve energy and reduce their bills.

Switching hot washes for a cool cycle, air drying your clothing or properly sealing cracks around window sills and doors are small changes that can make a difference.

In summer, we recommend setting the air conditioner between 23 to 26 degrees. In winter, as a general rule, only heat the room that is in use.

We also encourage customers to get in touch with us early if they are finding it difficult to pay their bills.

We are committed to working with customers and we know from experience that seeking help early can make an enormous difference.”