These unfair late payment fees are dressed up as “pay on time discounts,” which are designed to trick people into thinking they’re getting bang for their buck. If you pay their electricity bill just one day late, you could be hit with fees as high as 58%, costing hundreds of dollars.
What are the facts?
Big energy companies are deliberately making energy contracts unfair so that people pay more.
Late fees can be as much 58% of the total bill, even if you pay late by just one day.
Many retailers already charge around $10 – $15 in late payment fees if you don’t pay on time. How’s that for double dipping!
Thanks so much for your support Gordon! You’re right - might not apply to everyone’s bills, but with your help we make the energy market fairer for everyone
For many years, in numerous submissions, the Qld Consumers Assoc has been calling for late payment fees to only reflect the actual cost to the retailer of late payment and supporting fees related to the amount owed and for how long.
Hopefully, the ACCC report due at the end of this month will recommend changes along those lines.
I’m only exempt because I have produced my own electricity with off-grid solar and wind since 1991 However, I don’t like to see others being ripped off by the big energy cartel!
I disagree with all late payment fees; so I wished to sign your petition.
However, it seems that my usual lack of technological ability, meant that I could not find how to do so. I clicked on the blue hyperlink at the foot of the original message above, which took me to another page where I expected to be able to sign; but all that it gave me was more talk about the petition. Oh well … one day I might learn how to use all of this modern technology. … sigh!
Sorry for any frustration the page might have caused @ray15 and @goodwinjanine0, we’ve heard about some issues on particular devices so it’s possible it could be a problem onour side. In any case, I’ve added both your names to our petition for you to save any further hassle.
I recently moved house and had to pay $93 for a meter reading on my old premises, because it was outside reading cycle and ANOTHER $93 to have it conected at new premises…they only had to read the meter as electricity was conected because its a large bank of meters in a unit complex.This charge is made by company who owns infrastructure, not the energy company I am with. This is a huge cost when on a pension.
Singed as in most cases the fees charged are in no way related to the cost the business incurs because the payment is late. I’d like more honesty too in other cases of “administration charges” and the like. Why does it cost so much for a transaction at an ATM not owned by your bank, when the transaction is purely electronic and does not involve any staff interaction lol.
We’ve had some promising news on pay-on-tim discounts after the government has submitted a rule change to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC): http://bit.ly/2X5iime
We’ll see what happens after industry lobbying kicks in, but we’re pleased to see this moving the right direction.
It’s good that it may be changed for the energy industry. What about Government bodies?
The Queensland Government and the Gold Coast City Council both use this ‘pay on time discount’ system.
Perhaps the penalties aren’t as large, but they are still significant to those who may have trouble paying, made an ‘administrative error’, or who have paid late.
The new rule should apply to ALL ‘penalties’ to keep them relative to the reasonable cost to the entity of late payment.
