Electricity billshock? Tips and tricks to help

23 Nov Electricity billshock? Tips and tricks to help

Dear Here to Help
I am a single pensioner and I noticed that my electricity bills suddenly became much higher a couple of years ago. When I checked my meter, the numbers didn’t seem to tally with the numbers on my account.

It sounds to me like you want to challenge your electricity bill. The first thing to remember when challenging anything – get your paperwork in order.

Go back through your files and find as many electricity bills as you can. If you don’t have them, you can request your historical accounts from your electricity provider. (They may charge a fee.)

You might also like to photograph your meter reading, with a date stamp, at regular intervals – say weekly or monthly.

Once, I even switched off everything in my apartment and checked the meter – it was still running very fast! An electrician had mistakenly connected to my meter the power point my neighbour used for heating. After a bit of “show and tell”, this was resolved.

Energy providers can make estimated meter readings in some cases, usually where they cannot access your meter. This may apply, for example, if you have a dog where your meter box is. You can find more information here.

Where the estimated meter reading is wrong, you are entitled to submit your own meter reading. Your energy retailer must clearly tell you of this right and give you clear instructions on how to take the meter reading and send it to them.

Your first step is to complain to your energy provider through their formal complaint channel.

If you are unhappy with the result, NSW has an Energy and Water Ombudsman. If you are still unsatisfied, you can complain to the Australian Energy Market Commission.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, September 2019, entitled “Electrickery”. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.