Welcome to the Community @EcoJim5781
It will be on your electricity bill.
If you do not have a bill and need your NMI now you can get it by contacting your electricity retailer. Note your NMI is not on the meter.
4 Likes
I have found my NMI but there is DEFINITELY no website on my SUMO bill to look up my recent bills to calculate the best plan for me…
This information is not on any utility bill.
For QLD, NSW, SA, TAS and the ACT. see (as was recently posted)
Victoria has a comparative gold standard linked in post 1 of this topic.
There is also a similar topic
3 Likes
Electricity falls under the consumer data right. This means you can authorise SUMO to release past usage history so you can obtain cost estimates from other providers to allow you to compare pricing/offers and determine what us best for you based on your past usage. You will need to contact SUMO to allow this to occur.
More information on CDR for electricity/energy can be found here:
Once you exercise your CDR, getting comparative pricing should be able to readily occur.
2 Likes
Not applicable to Qld but since this is a nationally read topic
CDR
That is embedded in the compare.energy.vic.gov.au process. The respective grid operator is where the information is held. Any consumer can also download a .csv file on their own by making an online account (Ausnet in my case); it was necessary to DIY until relatively recently – it now happens automatically with the tick of a box for compare.energy.vic.gov.au.
One can also use their bills to get the same information but it needs to be entered in a comparatively tedious manner.
If one uses a commercial (often misleading) comparison site that comment about integrated CDR and ‘getting the data from the grid operator’ may not apply. Considering the difference in comparison quality why would anyone use them? Answer: Simple. Many Victorian consumers remain unaware of the Victorian government comparison site or succumb to advertising.
2 Likes
The following provides links to obtain copies of your recorded meter data for all networks except those in the NT. For properties with smart meters the data is generally recorded in 30 minute intervals. For customers with manual read meters the information available is limited to that taken at each reading.
For consumers with smart meters some retailers offer a free App that provides access to billing and meter data. Our experience with AGL and Origin (Qld) is consumption (use) and export (solar PV customers) is updated daily, approx 24-36 hrs arrears.
Note:
Past digital bills are only available online for 2 years, but can be downloaded and saved.
3 Likes
So this old nugget has turned up again (Energy bill hoodwinking). I had a call from someone trying to offer a better electricity deal. In doing so I went over my last bill from AGL and noticed what I thought was a calculation anomaly. The quoted rates for the various tariffs are quoted on the bill as ex GST but all the discounts and feed-in rates are quoted inc gst. So when yo compare a suppy tariff of say $0.1474/kWh this is ex-GST to make it look as cheap as possible but when they quote a feedin rate of say $0.05/kWh this includes GST (so is really only approx $0.045/kWh ex-GST) this makes the feedin rate as high as it can. The interesting part occurs when you look at the bill and it says Total new charges are say $86.30 and $14.40 GST (10%). I think their billing could be a lot clearer on this! I feel the bill is setout to confuse the average customer about what the deal actually is.
4 Likes
Welcome to the Community @JohnAyre
Thanks for your first post. I moved your comment into this existing topic about some of the better sources of comparison as well as a few of the retailers’ games.
If you search the Community for ‘AGL’ you will find AGL has a special place of its own.
As an aside on the trickery some try, a decade ago Red dependably reversed some of the columns in each new re-up offer so the inattentive might compare x/GST for the new offer with inc/GST in the old offer and think they were offered a real deal. Other than the columns being reversed each time an attentive individual would (should) have noticed.
3 Likes
I think this is not quite correct.
When they sell you something, they have to charge GST - so whether they quote ex-GST or inc-GST matters and they must make it clear but, yes, they will typically quote fixed and variable charges ex-GST whereas they should be quoting inc-GST.
When you sell them something (i.e. Feed-In Tariff), you are not registered for GST, so you must not charge GST - GST does not apply - so the FIT cannot be quoted ex-GST or inc-GST. The FIT just is.
The overall effect though is that a FIT of Xc/kWh does not offset a charging rate of Xc/kWh ex-GST.
The above only applies if you are an individual consumer. The logic would be different if you are a business consumer that is registered for GST.
3 Likes
You are correct that FIT for residential consumers is quoted as ex-GST or GST doesn’t apply to residential FITs.
GST on a bill is applied to all import electricity and other charges (such as daily service charges). This means the bill, for consumers that have FIT credits, will have a GST more than 10% of the amount shown on the bill for payment. This is because the FITs does not have GST and there are no GST credits to offset the GST calculated for usage and services.
Electricity retailers explain this on their websites, such as
1 Like
That’s interesting, so if I have $1000 quarterly bill that is totally offset by $1000 FIT, you still need to pay the government $100 for GST? Yes as you say AGL explain this on
Either way, if FIT is important to a given consumer then AGL is not competitive.
Indeed. My last bill: GST is a positive amount, bill is a negative amount, and GST is < -10% of the bill. 
1 Like
if that was an ex-GST amount then “yes”.
The $1000 will include GST ($909.09 + GST of $90.91) In Australia a tax invoice (bill) must be GST inclusive. If you have $1000 in FIT credits, your bill will show zero or no payment required (GST paid is still $90.91 in this case as FIT doesn’t have GST to offset GST paid). If FITs are greater than usage and other charges, the bill will be in credit the difference. And visa versa.
1 Like
My daily inbox of offers too good to refuse includes one from ‘Arcline by RACV’ for electricity.
A $300 gift card by signing up now [ONLY] good for many valuable RACV products and services. Just wow! Looking at the offer it has a $12 monthly basic membership fee plus a daily charge plus a peak charge 25% above my present plan and off peak ‘only’ 33% higher, and a smaller FiT that is also capped so it becomes even smaller.
The small print for that fabulous gift card is
*Limit of one $300 e-Gift card per new eligible electricity account. Offer available to the first 250 RACV members to sign up to the ‘Energy Plan - RACV Member Exclusive Offer’ between 12:00am AEDT 25 January 2023 and 11:59pm AEDT 07 March 2023.
At the end of the day RACV has gotten into the utility business by selling on behalf of
My present supplier (Sumo) sells mostly dirty power so it is not a 1:1 comparison but other than that Sumo has been pretty good despite Choice dissing them. All the headlines suggest renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels now, but not wanting to wade into that could it be a furphy about ‘no markups’?
Nothing like good old competition. I think I’ll leave my gift card entitlement to someone less discerning than myself. 
3 Likes
Many of us may have recently received notification from our electricity and gas suppliers the cost of energy will be going up from 01 July 2023. Not to fear. AGL know just how to put one at ease. 
So I now know what the new rates will be.
What I don’t know is if there is a better deal to be had. I could go to the Energy Made Easy web site.
There’s just one problem. The Government Energy Made Easy web site only shows the prices for the plans currently available (2022-23). Consumers will need to wait for the site to be updated after 1st July 2023 to discover the retailers rates post 01 July 2023.
One could ring around and try the likely suspects. It could take some time.
ENERGY MADE NOT SO EASY.
1 Like
Customer facing staff usually cannot tell you either since they do not get the new tariffs until ‘the day’ or shortly before. Even if they did most offers are variable so you can sign up on Friday, get transferred and have your rates go up the next day.
Once a customer elects to ‘walk’ to another supplier it can take weeks to months.
In Vic I have found the electric retailers only take a few weeks including the cooling off period since we have smart meters and monthly invoicing is common. My last 2 switches only took about 2 weeks. For those elsewhere with old school manually read meters and quarterly invoicing it can take longer while affected customers ‘enjoy’ their new higher rates.
Our state has compare.energy.vic.gov.au which is as close to a gold standard comparison as exists.
1 Like
Same here.
The following $2000+ estimate is likely to alarm. Our bills totalled just over $800 for the previous 12 months.
Making sense of it all? The starting point is clear as ……!
An explanation might be useful to some.
- The estimated annual cost advised by the retailer is based on an average for the distributor’s region. It’s not representative of our annual consumption. Possible solution one needs to do the sums on paper, or spreadsheet.
- Assume the comparison suggesting a 4% difference is to the new reference price for 2023-24. The better comparison is what that estimate would be for a customers actual consumption. Possible solution one needs to do the sums on paper, or spreadsheet.
- Solar export - feedin is not considered. This varies between retailers, and looking to AGL currently also varies by plan and within the same plan. Could be 5c, 10c, 12c, 15c, or ?..? Possible solution one needs to use your current tariff and verify with the retailer exactly what is on offer before doing the sums on paper, or spreadsheet.
As @PhilT points out, everything can change the day after one switches. It’s frustrating that knowing it’s going to change significantly, one needs to wait until 01 July, and then some if there are delays in the EME web site reflecting the new rates for some of the retailers.
It’s also useful to note that pricing is managed independently for WA, Vic, Regional QLD, NT, Tas, ACT.
1 Like
While retailers often do that
No spreadsheet needed in Vic (although I am pedantic and use one anyway) because the Victoria compare site fetches or lets you upload (a download from the grid operator!) your actual trailing data and uses it to provide a fairly accurate comparison.
1 Like
Hello Phil, my quandary is not in selecting the best value for money retailer, but which one(s) have performance integrity. I have found Canstar’s ‘Satisfaction’ list as all such surveys are subject to those who respond. I am with Globird and have read a number of reviews stating dissatisfaction with the ‘bait and switch’ tactic, having just raised their rates. So despite being recommended when 1st appearing on the scene, is there any other site I can consult for retailer performance rating comparisons? Thanks.
1 Like
