Queensland Electricity Tariffs

Energy
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The Energex document relates to the WHOLESALE supply agreements between Energex and the Electricity Retailers in the SE Qld Energex Supply area. It affects how each retailer is charged for the electricity supplied to each customer. As dumb as it sounds, it is not an agreement that has been made between individual customers and Energex.

According to the following Retailers are not bound to charge the customer on the same basis. I take that to say a retailer can decide to offer a flat rate plan to a new customer, or any other plan. The Retailer however will pay for supply on the demand based wholesale structure. Retailers have the option to offer a demand based plan. Several already do, as the demand metering option, commenced in the agreement as of June 2020 for Energex area customers.

Using the ‘Energex Network Tariff Estimator’ tool linked from the same site. The outcome is a significant increase in the whole sale cost for the demand based option. It’s a further point of confusion compared to the supposed ‘renewables’ driving down the cost of electricity headlines.

A further observation in the earlier submissions considered by the QCA is a floor on the demand calculation of 3kWh. IE There is no charge or cost for demand unless it exceeds the floor. This seems a fairer assessment, but was discussed only in respect of Ergon customers?

Edit added note:
I’ve updated the Topic Heading as the Tariff Reforms have been public knowledge (published) on numerous Govt and related Web sites since June 2020 or prior. The introduction of demand tariffs has been openly discussed/included in the preceding submissions. It has been a response to the National Energy Rules, and market determinations of the National Energy Regulator.

The Qld Govt ‘Talking Energy’ link provided with this post provides access to numerous other documents including the Australian Energy Regulator’s determinations.

From p45 of the current June 2020 determination.

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Thanks for informing me that this is occurring in Victoria. How is it these energy companies can change formats for charging without notifying consumers with clear simple information on how we will be affected?

Big question is - what can we do about it now?
Petition?

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Is there a need to do anything?

The Victorian Govt provides the following information concerning electricity and gas including the default electricity supply offer for Victorian consumers.

Rather than reproduce the whole of the link, it additionally requires Retailers to regularly update each customer with details of the best offer available from the Retailer.

If you are concerned amount demand pricing of supply Canstar Blue offered the following information and advice on different tariffs. This includes demand based pricing plans. It’s from Dec 2019, which is evidence they have been around for some time. Whether they are a better choice is up to each consumer. Canstar also provides links to research the latest offers.

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Thanks Mark_m
I appreciate the link to the information.
I don’t relish the hours I will now have to spend to make sense of this and check what - if anything I need to do.

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If in Melbourne it may be comforting to know approx 1,999,999 other retail customers have similar needs.

Have a read of the Choice guide first,

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Please note the following is not provided as financial advice or as recommendations on electricity plans or retailers. It’s a summary of some of the considerable public content available concerning ongoing reforms to electricity billing and charges in Qld approved in 2020 by the Australian Energy Regulator.

The commentary relates primarily to customers supplied from the SE Qld Energex Network.

The original OP

Importantly a Demand tariff can only be used with a suitable Smart Meter connection. It is not the only option for billing, and the impact if selected for an individual bill will vary, (decrease - except for a heavy user in the evening peak hour electing for a Demand tariff).

This discussion has derived from a published public document detailing the most recent approved 2020-2021 wholesale distribution tariff (TSS) approved for Energex Qld and supply in SE Qld. This is not the same as the agreements between retail customers/householders and their retailer. EG AGL, Origin, Alinta etc.

In Summary

  1. The national energy regulator approved for 2020-21 revised tariff structures for Ergon and Energex. IE The tariffs used to bill Retailers for electricity supplied to residential and other customers.
  2. It is up to each retailer to decide how they markup and recover the cost of electricity billed by Energex against each connection, (the Retailer’s customer).
  3. Ergon customers will need to wait for the Qld Competition Authority to issue it’s final determination for 2021-2022 to find out if and how electricity billing and costs may further change. Currently only at draft.

How electricity is currently being metered and the bill calculated, or how this might change after 01 July 2021, will vary for each customer and Retailer. Energex has a number of different metering arrangements and transition variations. Individual customers may be on a spinning disc accumulation meter, or smart metering. Some smart meters are online logging. Some do not have that access. Each Retailer has a number of fixed term or variable rate plans. Some plans have a fixed contract period and no change. Others are subject to change month to month.

As there are numerous permutations and a multitude of suppliers/contracts - the best way forward is for consumers to individually contact their Retail supplier to confirm their current metering and billing, including default metering. It may also be important to clarify what will happen with any renewal, and if they are going to be upgraded to a smart meter in the near future. Note that smart meters enable the options of Time of Use metering as well as Demand based metering.

Consumers on agreements subject to change on a months notice are most likely to see changes. Those on the Spinning disc mechanical accumulation type meters will see no change until they upgrade to smart meters.

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According to Energex a Retailer’s customer Smart metered, can elect to be metered on ToU (time of use metering) or Demand metering (consumption+monthly peak demand). The customer has the choice. It’s up to each Retailer to clarify if a flat single rate retail plan will be offered as an alternative to ToU or Demand based retail plans. The retailer will however be billed on a cost reflective network tariff. For customers ToU tariff options are readily identified for each SE Qld Retailer, as are current fixed flat rate offers.

Whether a householder is better off on a Demand tariff or a TOU tariff is difficult to determine until there is a full 12 month x 30 minute consumption history. Customers with Smart meters have not been provided with real time monitoring, necessary to reliably manage consumption on Demand and ToU based tariffs.

There are likely many questions unanswered. Feel free to share what they might be and what answers you receive. There is very little evident concerning Demand based tariff options on my Retailer’s web resources, although they are clearly aware of the changes from more than a year past. I had to phone to find out more.

Foot notes and selected references:

Qld Govt General

Energex Explanatory Notes to the TSS (Mark’s recommendation as the best guide to what and why!)
https://www.energex.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/830488/Energex-TSS-Explanatory-Notes-December-2019.pdf

Community consultation on tariff changes.
The QCOSS (Queensland Council of Social Services) has made several representations in the past. A long but detailed commentary in response to the changes as discussed.

Outline of development of the revised TSS-2019, Tariff Structure Statement and links.

Where documents refer to a 4 digit tariffs in the TSS these are the wholesale/distributor tariffs and rates.

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I know this is an old thread, but we recently added solar panels to our house and had our meter swapped.
I notified Alinta that we now had solar and we arranged that our plan would now be HomeDeal-SR plus Solar.

We received a confirmation letter, but the rates were different to what was discussed. e.g. there was a Capacity Demand rate of 23.61c/kW/day.
Thinking they had put us on a different plan than discussed, I rang Alinta, and spent the best part of an hour having the forced Energex rates being explained to me.

As has been mentioned several times above, this convert application of a new (and very high) rate has not been notified to the general public/user by either the supplier or the retailer.

Time will tell, but I believe the extra rate will increase our invoices (with the solar feed-in adjustment) by approximately 32%.
BTW, I am a retired pensioner.

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@Nordo My daughter had exactly the same issue with Alinta, where she installed solar panels earlier this year, which meant that she was changed to a smart meter. When her quarterly bill arrived about a month ago it too included the demand surcharge, and Alinta swore blind that they had informed her of the tariff changes, which they never had. They offered to re-send the notification and that didn’t arrive either.

We kind of knew from general reading - see my earlier postings - that demand tariffs were due to come in, but there was still a requirement for her to be told officially and with due notice. That was her final bill anyway, as she’d already decided to change to AGL who were offering much more competitive rates, especially a far better feed-in tariff.

To cut a very long story short, her final Alinta bill was a total mess, with double-charging and ridiculous estimates of what the final readings were on her old spinning disc meter before it got replaced. With my daughter spending many hours on the phone, Alinta had about four goes at getting the bill right with amounts owing ranging from over $300 to an agreed and realistic figure of about $80.

Two recommendations. 1) Scrutinise your invoices from Alinta as they haven’t a clue what they’re doing and their customer service people like to make things up as they go along. 2) Consider changing to another company. We (and my daughter too) changed to AGL. It depends very much on your own circumstances but our two households found on analysis that they were a lot cheaper than Alinta - and you’re supporting an Australian-owned rather than a Chinese-owned company.

PS. If you do change, make sure that you scrutinise your final Alinta bill extra-carefully.

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@kortravel99 Hi, thanks for responding. I know you were the OP, but I thought most original responders would not have continued to subscribe to this thread.

Like your daughter, we were definitely NOT informed of the Demand tariff when we notified Alinta that we had installed solar panels and wanted to alter our plan. However, when you are speaking to someone who’s native language is obviously not English, it’s sometimes hard to tell what you are agreeing to. :thinking:

My only joy out of speaking to Alinta today was that they said they would give me a $50 credit in my next invoice, to “help ease the transition”.

I’ll definitely have a look at AGL. We are in Landsborough, so I assume they cover our area.
Thanks for the response and advice.

Oh, I forgot to mention that if you visit Alinta’s webpage and check out their plans (including getting transferred to energymadeeasy.gov.au), the Standard Rate plans are still there, and with no mention of Demand rates being included.

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We’re also in the GH Mountains area and have solar PV. AGL is our current retailer. On the most recent contract renewal earlier this year, the ongoing offer was very poor. We set about changing over to another retailer. When AGL were advised of the change they came back with a better offer within the cooling off period.

It really pays to shop around. There was no demand tariff in either offer.

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@mark_m @kortravel99 I’ve had a good look at AGL’s plans.
However, according to their website, their plans are similar to Alinta - to the extent that Demand Rates are not mentioned in the plan details (although I did notice that both Alinta and AGL do have other plans that include Demand rates - but who willingly wants that?).
According to my calculations, I might still be slightly better off with Alinta. However I haven’t received a full month’s invoice from Alinta which includes my solar panels and smart meter.
Once I have that, I will have more realistic figures to work with.

Do AGL include Energex’s demand rate?

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Not in our billing which is quarterly. I enquired of AGL and Origin amongst others earlier this year re demand tariff metering retail plans. AGL advised they would need to refer my enquiry to a special service rep as it is not part of the everyday marketing plans.

Our solar plan is very effective with the current balance marginally in credit. We’ve had solar PV for more than 2.5 years. The approximate annual averages are for PV generation 7000 kWh, export 5000 kWh, import 2000 kWh, self consumption 2000kWh. Winter is the most expensive period due to the reduced solar production and our increased heating needs in early morning and the evening.

To get the best deal shop around. We compare annual costs using the same basic consumption data.

P.S.
Demand metering and tariffs make sense only if all customers are metered and billed the same. IE All customers are smart metered. It’s the peak loadings on the network that drive up costs. Traditionally these peaks have been met by building surplus capacity to provide the spinning reserve required, and the use of natural/coal seam gas fuelled peaking generators.

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Demand based tariffs make sense if one’s usage profile is the opposite of the usual network demand, that being using most electricity when tariffs are low (‘off peak’ times) and lesser when tariffs are high (‘peak’ times).

This means a bill will be weighted towards off peak or shoulder tariffs and will be less than otherwise would be the case on a fixed tariff.

This is generally impracticable for those households that work during the day as peak times (higher usage tariffs) usually occur Mon-Fri around breakfast time and in the late afternoon to after nightfall. One can try to optimise off peak tariffs in such cases by using timers (on appliances, power point mounted or switch board mounted) to run high energy use appliances during off peak times when electricity tariffs are at a minimum.

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Below are some selected latest tariffs for SEQ (Energex zone). The AGL Solar Savers plan is but one of a number of AGL plans offered but is generally the best if you have solar panels. Note the difference in the demand charge between AGL and Alinta. Also,
I’m uncertain as to .how/when the AGL (period undefined) plan is available. Perhaps mark_m can find out?
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One issue here is those consumers who create the peak demand driving the need for excess capacity to meet the peak. At present we all pay more because these costs are averaged out, especially in respect of the flat tariffs most of us pay. The greater size and capacity of the networks is also a result of needs to meet peak demand hence greater network related costs paid by all.

The simple suggestion is that billing some based on demand and others on a flat tariff causes an unfair and unequal outcome. The fairest but also punitive response is universal demand based metering and tariffs, the least fair may be a flat tariff where those with excessive use are more likely driving peak demand than those with more modest needs.

If demand tariffs are going to work in the consumers favour, I’ve yet to see any examples where they work for consumers in the real world.

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There are many examples. I sat down with one of our neighbours to work out what was in her best interest. She is a retired pensioner who lives by herself, has a modest 1kW solar system ($0.09 FIT) with solar hot water. Heat pump/reverse cycle AC runs 27/7 during winter in one well insulated living room. Winter monthly bill was around $100-120 per month on flat tariff and she has it down to about $30-40/month. Last summer (no heat pump) her bills were near zero per month compared to about $30-40 per month.

To achieve this she has changed her behaviour by running appliances (including baking) as much as she can in off peak periods (from 10am to 4pm) to maximise solar use and off peak rates…which she can do manually being at home at these times. She also turns off the solar HW booster when not needed.

If one has a home business which uses power predominantly during the day during offpeak tariffs, which we have found, there are considerable savings. We have found this in our own case.

Speaking to a former colleague still working in the industry, with move towards more renewable generation there will be more pressure/push to move consumers to demand metering/charges to try and change consumer behaviour. Behaviour change will be to encourage consumption when renewable generation peaks (noting renewable generation peaks don’t match network demand peaks). This change in behaviour is needed if future increases in electricity costs are to remain modest, as there is mounting concern the cost of renewable energy storage to meet existing peak demand profiles. Otherwise, there could be ‘platinum’ plated storages to meet existing peak demands in the late afternoon/evening.

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Perhaps we are talking about different things but I have passive roof-mounted solar hot water with an optional electric booster. My default is to leave it off until there has been a couple of cloudy days and the water is only warm. Then as soon as the water is hot or the sun comes out it goes off gain. I cannot imagine why you would leave it on all the time as it will keep topping up the tank even when this is not required.

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No the same thing. If she boosts the SHW, this is manually switched on during daylight off peak rates. She recently got an electrician to install a isolating switch in a convenient location in the house, instead of ‘flicking’ the circuit breaker.

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Mine came with that and it has a big red indicator light so it is hard to forget and leave it on. It is in the bathroom where it is very obvious. Apparently some are more sophisticated and the manual switch is turned off when the tank gets to temperature. Mine has a thermostat of course but it will go back on as the temperature drops for as long as the manual switch is on.

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Indeed, on moving to our current place I discovered it worked this way.

I just saved an image of the peak/shoulder/off peak hours, and make a point of not doing washing/drying etc 14:00-20:00
weekday_peak

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