Bill shock: Why almost 50,000 West Australians could be paying more than they should for power

Tens of thousands of Synergy customers are potentially paying more than they should for their power usage.

New figures obtained by this masthead reveal about 46,000 meters used by residential and business customers across the network were estimated by Synergy this financial year.

Check your bill: are you being charged properly for your usage?Credit: Virginia Star

A Western Power spokeswoman said bills were estimated primarily when contractors were unable to access meters often due to dogs, locked gates or meter boxes.

“When customers receive an estimated bill, their past bills have been used to approximate energy use,” she said.

“This method is commonly used by many utilities throughout the world.

“Where possible, we use bills from corresponding months for estimated readings. This allows for changes in seasonal power use, which typically increases in summer.”

The spokeswoman said once a meter could be read, bills were corrected for any under or over-estimation.

Western Power has a regulatory obligation to read a meter at least once a year. However, they try to complete six reads or more per year, depending on the customer’s tariff.

WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam said in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, the least the state government could do was to ensure people were being charged correctly on their power bill.

“This is the latest example of the mismanagement of WA’s power assets by an incompetent Labor government,” she said.

“Western Power will spend $83.9 million on metering, including the installation of around 179,000 advanced meters in the next year.

“It simply beggars belief that even though they have been provided the funding to maintain meters they can’t.”

Mettam said last year small businesses and developers were waiting up to 12 months for Western Power to complete connections – a process which had previously taken 12 weeks.

“This Government has been gifted record surpluses, which they have squandered rather than giving workers at Synergy or Western Power, nurses, teachers, and police officers the resources they need to deliver the services Western Australians deserve,” she said.

But Energy Minister Reece Whitby said bill estimation was standard practice around the world – and was quick to point out it happened under the Barnett government, too.

“This is a bizarre attack from the leader of a party that wants to sell Western Power and build a nuclear power plant in Collie,” he said.

“Our investment into smart meters helps to minimise the need to estimate bills and will lead to lower costs for Western Power and Western Australian taxpayers.”

Western Power said about 43 per cent of Perth metropolitan residential addresses were currently read by a contractor, but it was rolling out advanced meters in homes across the south-west.

The utility will install 700,000 meters by July 2024 and 850,000 meters by July 2025, with a target of converting the entire network to advanced meters by the end of 2027.

To date, 568,000 meters have been installed in the Perth metropolitan area, with 393,000 remaining.

Earlier this month, the state government announced another one-off credit of $400 to reduce electricity bills for residential and small business customers as part of the 2024-25 state budget commitments to ease cost-of-living pressures.

From July 1, 2024, all households will see another $300 credit automatically applied to their electricity bills under measures announced in the federal budget. The credits will be applied in quarterly instalments.

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