It might be a good time to double check your energy bill, as we’re hearing that retailers are relying more heavily on estimates and potentially overcharging.
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All our metering data is accessed remotely - so there should be no reason that an estimate is done unless there is some sort of fatal comms error.
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I believe that our meter reading has been contracted out, and the contractor has to provide sufficient staff to do the work.
As a consequence, there hasn’t been any estimation that I know of.
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We’ve had an ongoing battle with ACTEW/AGL since last October about two overly high electricity bills that were based on estimates, issued during winter 2021 when we were away from home for 10 weeks. In that time our meter also died, which we discovered when we got home. We paid the first bill as we were away, and expected an adjustment on the second but there wasn’t one. We were charged at the highest consumption rate based on usage for the same period in the previous year, when we were home.
Despite numerous phone calls to the company, supplying them with copies of accommodation receipts for the period we weren’t home, and most recently taking the matter to the NSW Energy Ombudsman, we’ve still not had a reply or resolution.
ACTEW/ AGL is overcharging us about $400 for electricity we didn’t use but will not respond to us or even respond to the Ombudsman’s report.
It’s high time that regulation is reinstated to stop this corrupt behaviour in the energy industry. There was never billing based on estimates when the industry was regulated.
I’d be interested in a class action if anyone wants to pursue it.
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Hi @Max1, welcome to the community and it is a challenging position that you face.
How does the estimate compare to the previous year’s consumption for the same billing period?
I suspect that ACTEW/AGL has no evidence that the usage was less than the estimate since the meter failed during the time you were away - this isn’t ACTEW/AGL fault, but something that can happen from time to time and it is unfortunate it happened when you were away.
Many consumer when they travel (if the house is vacant) still leave on devices on at home (fridges, water heating, pool filters, standby electricity, security lighting/cameras etc) so there could be some considerable usage, but less than when on holidays. Others may let a house sitter reside in the house to look after things/animals…and the consumption could be more than what a home owner would traditionally use.
It would be impossible to get a definitive usage for the time you were away…but looking at the bill for the same period in the pervious year would be a good starting point as a guide to potential maximum usage.
Actew/AGL has no evidence about the actual usage because the meter died at some point. However, I know that we were gone from home, no one was living in my house while we were gone, no water heating or heat was being used, and no laundry or other appliances were used, apart from a fridge, for 10 weeks.
I shouldn’t be expected to pay for electricity that I didn’t use. If they sent people out to read meters they’d have found that ours was faulty. They are using the excuse of Covid lockdowns for sending out electricity bills based on estimates rather than actual readings. Why someone couldn’t read externally placed meters on houses even during a lockdown is beyond me. Grocery and other stores, health care and numerous essential businesses remained open, with their workers at potentially far greater risk because they were in indoor settings. I suspect ACTEW/AGL saved a huge amount of money by not employing meter readers during the lockdowns.
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The estimates are based on the highest rate of usage for the corresponding period in the previous year.
The meter is supplied and supposedly maintained by the electricity company not the customer, so when it fails to work it is the company’s fault, not the consumer’s.
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IME AGL is a difficult company to deal with because of its size and complex administrative systems. The is little reason to expect ACTEWAGL to be much different.
That being written I scanned what the search engines could find and it appears there is nothing in the ‘rules’ (by whatever name) to account for a failed meter that was not discovered while the occupancy/use was effectively nil.
How long has it been? Rather than waiting are you able to find ‘refresh buttons’ you can push, even calling attention to your MP (who is disinterested but when they pass a problem across their desks the recipients sometime respond quicker if not better to the MP’s letterhead - as compared to ‘just a complaint’ in their routine process.
I doubt a consumer would be expected to know or monitor their meter until a questionable bill was received, but the process assumes a consistency of occupancy and use to resolve it, that is not the case here.
There is a difference between fault and responsibility. It may be the retailer or more likely the grid operator who is responsible for a meter’s maintenance. It seems if a meter has failed and an accurate bill is impossible as a result, the least that should be done is the bill reduced to daily charges and the account restarted from ‘zero’ when the new meter was turned on.
I accept using a prior year period for an estimation usually makes sense because it normally can be corrected but I opine it only makes sense when nothing breaks, and if something breaks that is not under the responsibility or control of a consumer the supplier responsible for the meter should be the one that cops the loss, yet might not be legally.
AGL, and possibly ACTEWAGL, is not crisp but after ‘too long’ they could make a response that is satisfactory or may stonewall citing ‘the rules’. Management, facing cases that could make precedent often try to avoid responsibility but yet is open to a once off goodwill gesture. Sometimes words can be important.
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Electricity retailers have established processes for estimating bill, and under normal circumstances the estimate may be appropriate. A failing meter when a consumer has temporarily vacated a metered dwelling would be very unusual and potentially a rare event.
The situation, as I indicated earlier is challenging, as the meter faulted during a period when the dwelling wasn’t being used and the consumer assesses the usage would be significantly less than ‘normal’ (house occupied).
As it appears the meter couldn’t be read, it becomes a very much word of mouth type scenario where one can try to argue a cause but can’t provide any evidence. While one may be able to prove they were away, an energy retailer won’t know if there would be a significant decline is usage for some of the reasons outlined in my previous post. It appears @max1 turns off everything (except the fridge which we also do for extended travels) which would minimise consumption. Proving one did this is near impossible and ActewAGL would have to trust the customer’s word.
The reason for looking at a bill for the corresponding period in the year(s) before, this gives an indication of pattern of usage at that time if year. If the estimate usage is significantly more than the past same period usage, one might be able to argue that a previous corresponding period is a reasonable estimate for the period where the meter failed. Such assumes there hasn’t been a significant chance in use in the corresponding periods such as a new pool etc.
It would also be interesting to see what the Energy Ombudsperson said in relation to the matter and how ActewAGL should approach resolution.
Perhaps seeking ‘a difficulty in paying’ one off assistance might be the way to resolve the single bill?
Contacting the Energy Supplier as the owner of the faulty meter and asking for an ex gratia payment for at least some of the contested bill may be something that is worthwhile to pursue. Particularly if evidence is provided showing that the house was vacant during meter failure incident
AGL have six years meter reads for my home, so they have the data to calculate an estimate meter read based on the average power usage at my home for that time of the year. An AGL bill received in Nov 2021 included an Actual meter read. The next two monthly bills received from AGL were Estimated meter reads based on three times the historic average power usage for my home at that time of the year. It appears that power supply companies are deliberately using high estimated meter reads to enable receipt of higher bill payments, until the next Actual meter read has to be included in a bill.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission should regulate Estimated meter reads by requiring the power retailer to include a note in the bill explaining the Estimate meter read calculation, e.g. “Estimated meter read is based on the average kwh usage in the following previous quarterly Actual meter reads – 17/11/2017, 1142 kwh; 17/11/2018, 1205 kwh; 17/11/2019, 1078 kwh; 17/11/2020, 1183 kwh; 17/11/2021, 1215 kwh”.
You can read your own meter and tell your energy provider what the reading is as long as you do it before the bill is due. My provider Alinta says they will accept this if they haven’t been able to get an actual reading. So too does AGL if their website information is to be believed.
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I think mine are and have been mostly actual reads. My gas bill has reduced considerably since I stopped using gas for cooking (so its only for water heating), and my electric bill has only increased as expected (I used a/c a great deal and still am, to reduce humidity) and my appliances (including things like TV and computers) don’t seem to use much even when on standby.
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This page is advisory explaining background to @Gregr’s post. You will need to open the ‘view more’ to read everything germane and it is fairly comprehensive.
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ORIGIN ENERGY INSTALLED A SMART METER IN 2017. Replacing 2 old analogue meters. MY online account gives me up to date USAGE cost. Also an estimated bill cost.
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MY advice is to have AGL, install a SMART METER, at no cost to you. Then all billing problems will disappear.
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Yes, I’m aware that power retailers allowed customers provide meter read data.
I assume AGL charge a high Estimated power meter read as an objective to encourage customers make a call to them, within which AGL will ask the customer to provide meter reads.
Given the reduced business costs because workers are not being paid to do professional power meter reads, the regulator should enforce a customer financial benefit to do the power meter read. For example, power retailers offer customers - “We will provide a $10 discount in each quarter’s bill when we’ve received a power meter read from a customer within 5 days after we we’ve sent the customer a request for the power meter read“.
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Depending on which supply authority/state upgrading to a smart meter is not without cost or consequence.
It’s worth checking up front. We pay an additional daily cost for a smart meter despite the fact it saves the suppliers cost of the meter reading person.
Further considerations include smart meters enable monthly reads and billing. This may suit some consumers. The meters also enable through the retailer’s app the ability to track daily usage one to two days in arrears. Unfortunately real time usage monitoring is not included. This all assumes one lives a connected life through a personal device, and the smart meter has access to the local mobile phone network. Our smart meter sometimes fails to find service.
They are also required to enable the retailers/suppliers to introduce solar, ToU (time of use) and peak demand billing options. Some might suggest staying on the old meters which provide only for flat rate billing is a better option?
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In 2017, ORIGIN ENERGY offered to install a SMART METER for ZERO $, my previous digital METER was INSTALLED by Essential Energy, in 2011, for $290, after I INSTALLED a 1.5kwatt SOLAR system. I ran a spreadsheet, from weekly READING from the digital METER, (domestic and SOLAR) and old analogue, off PEAK HWS METER. I also ran one for my neighbour for 7 years. Both accounts went into credit, because our FIT, was 60 cents/KWHR. The SMART METER enables me to look at my hourly, DAILY, MONTHLY and period USAGE. These READINGS are delayed by 24 hours, but I expected that, because the data must be uploaded to my account web page. Real time data does not interest me, I gain enough data from my web account. The SMART METER has worked well, even after a few 24hr blackouts and it’s the last upgrade required on my board… I live in a rural town and work in the electrical industry.
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