Thanks for the correction, yeah Origin Energy - still no ones cheaper for me at least in my area 
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It’s a good outcome.
Also worth noting the 20% discount ‘One Big Switch’ indicates is relative to the default or standing offer rate. Origin and other retailers (refer to the Energy Made Easy web site) provide a variety of plans with similar discounts relative to the default rate.
Note Origin’s best plan offers for SE QLD and those of other retailers are most often for variable rates. IE the rate is not fixed for the term of the plan. The rates may be increased or decreased with notice. The assumption is when the rates increase there is always the option to leave and go to another retailer. The reality may be that if one retailer needs to lift rates the cause will influence all.
There are fixed rate plans from most retailers for those not so keen on uncertainty. The discounts are from my observation of renewing a plan in Feb less or none.
The offers for those with smart meters will include ToU and peak demand based plans. Different and not necessarily better than those without. Also very difficult to manage as neither Energex or Ergon provide any means of real time monitoring of your household consumption. It’s a bit like driving a car where the government has removed all speedometers from vehicles, and you need to guess whether you are speeding or not. Great for revenue?
For PV owners looking for higher feed in benefits I had difficulty finding high feedin tariffs concurrent with large discounts in fixed rate plans.
There is one learning I might add to that of always shopping around - the annual pricing determinations that impact QLD consumers currently affect pricing from 01 July each year. Our current supply agreements were set at the start of the year. There is no need to wait until 2023 to see if there are better options available.
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I currently get 18c/kWh for my solar feedin until about the end of August 2023, this is called the “Origin Solar Boost Plus”. May be worth checking to see if it can be obtained by those with Solar?
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cheers thanks for that info
Nice. I don’t have Solar yet but something I plan for. I probably need someone to inspect the state of my roof before hand so can fix things up before Solar panels go in.
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Definitely as roof repairs require removal and reinstalling of the solar panels. Not a job for the handyman the local electrician here is busy doing just that.
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Current details per CanStar. Note these may change after 01 July? Best listed by Origin for QLD is 12c fit, while the heavily discounted Solar Lite plan provides only 2c fit, with a 22% discount on the default offer for supply. I found Canstar’s site easy to use when looking for plans than the Energy Made Easy site.
Origin also package a higher fit with their solar PV purchase schemes. Fit of 14c or 20c depending on system size? Conditions apply.
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Yeah just got this email today from Origin about Solar incentives
Our highest feed-i> n tariff
20c FIT for systems under 7kW
Solar Boost Plus - an exclusive two year plan for customers who buy a system with us, with our highest feed-in tariff
I hope my experience can assist anyone looking for answers on the shift to demand tariffs in Qld.
I’m on a legacy AGL plan until Jan 2023, and they’ve increased my prices from 1 Aug.
T11 General Usage
c/kWh
from 27.907 to 34.177
Feed-in tariff remains
20 c/kWh
Solar metering charge
c/day
from 7.7 to 8.525
Supply charge
c/day
from 108.9 to 118.107
I looked around to transfer to a new retailer yesterday with those AGL increases.
Energy Australia (EA) looked the best, according to www.energymadeeasy.gov.au.
That turned out entirely wrong as they did not include any information about the “new” demand tariff I would be placed on.
After receiving the transfer letter from EA, I noticed the demand charge and thought, what the heck is that? The rates from EA:
Incl. GST
Peak usage per day 24.71700 c/kWh
Daily Supply Charge $1.085700
Demand Charge per day 13.149400 c/kW/day
Retailer Solar Buy Back Rate 10.0000 c/kWh
I spent the next few hours scouring the web, trying to figure out how a demand tariff works. Clear and concise information was not easy to find. As a Qlder demand tariffs are entirely new to me.
After reading this thread and several other blogs, I think I have a handle on it. And I realised the EA plan was not better than the AGL plan, even with the price increases.
I’ve not had a good experience with AGL, so I was a little too quick to jump ship.
Rewind to June, and I realised AGL was not recording my solar feed-in since April. They claimed it was a faulty meter. An Energex technician confirmed it was not a defective meter. AGL then claimed they did not receive the technician’s meter report. The technician even sent me the report submission number AGL gave to him!
Throughout the process, AGL gave me several reasons why the solar feed in data was not being recorded, none of which rang true.
M electrician installed a revenue grade meter (Fronius), so I had the feed-in data too, and he advised me to go to the ombudsman, who was greatly helpful. After the ombudsman stepped in, AGL suddenly found all the feed-in data and credited my account.
I called EA this morning to cancel the transfer - one day after initiating it. It turns out that AGL backdated the meter read to EA from 20 July. The EA customer service rep thought I had been an EA customer since 20 July! He said I needed to go back to AGL and initiate a new transfer to them. I reminded him of the 10-day cooling-off period, and he transferred me up the chain of command. I eventually had the transfer cancelled by EA.
With that backdating of the transfer, I had no chance to measure and manage my peak demand usage, placing me at a clear disadvantage for the first billing cycle at EA.
As of January, I will likely have no choice but to go on a demand tariff. That gives me time to prepare to reduce our reliance on the grid between 4 pm and 9 pm.
What I find frustrating is the utter lack of transparency around this issue—and as usual, being treated like a commodity by the retailers.
@Strider That’s interesting. Coincidentally I too am in Queensland and have just swapped a week ago from Dodo to EnergyAustralia. As per the attached there’s no mention of the demand tariff even though we do have a smart meter.
As with your experience they appear to be making the changeover date retrospective to late-May, which was our last meter reading. That seems a bit cheeky, especially since the market rates back then were significantly lower than they are today. It used to be that when you changed retailers the actual change took place at the time of the next reading. Is this a sneaky way of screwing more money out of the poor old customer?
Much has been written on various forums about the demand tariff. I have a reasonable grasp of matters technical yet it still took me quite a while to get my head around the methodology. The main idea behind it is to get consumers to modify their electricity consumption patterns so as to reduce the demands on the grid during peak times. That’s a very worthy aim, necessary in fact, but if the scheme is one which hardly anyone understands then it’s hardly likely to achieve that objective.
It beats me why they don’t simply have different tariffs for different times of day - Peak, Shoulder and Off-Peak.
There is that option with Time of Use (ToU) tariffs being offered for customers with Solar PV in QLD.
The existence of these tariffs is evident when the Energy Made Easy web resource is used with a SE QLD post code.
We’re in SE QLD where Energex is the distributor. When changing retailers earlier this year we had the option of ToU or Demand tariffs. AGL, Origin and several other retailers approached.
ToU and Demand tariffs are only available to those with a smart meter. Unfortunately these are ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ meters IMO. They have the technical potential to export data in real time to the customer - however this capability is not provided with the meters. Worse that customers with smart meters pay an additional daily cost for the meter.
There is a current discussion in the following
Unless one can see real time usage managing consumption for those with a ToU tariff plan leaves one exposed to bill shock. If on a Demand tariff, one does not know until the damage has been done. A one off peak sets the Demand charge for each billing month.
The transition is necessary. Whether it is being done in a way that is fair and equitable is open to question. There is no ‘worse off test provision’ when comparing individual consumer outcomes. The AER and for QLD Ergon connected consumers QCA determinations accept comparisons based on an ‘average’ consumer (at several agreed consumption points).
P.S.
We have one supply on a Demand tariff, first bill to hand. I’m still digesting it.
For Qld consumers in the Ergon distribution area (most of regional QLD outside of the SE corner around Brisbane). The available tariffs include Time of Use. Per regulation the default tariff for residential customers is tariff 11.
To access the determination by the QCA,
Households are being advised to avoid electricity plans with ‘demand pricing’ as it can be complex and is unsuitable for most residential customers.
100% agree - it’s confusing and difficult to navigate, and at this time I want nothing to do with demand pricing. At least until I can make some energy saving changes between 4 pm and 9 pm. Which is entirely doable - it’s just going to take some time and money.
The saga continues from my prior post…
AGL called after being notified of my intention to transfer to Energy Australia and offered the following:
inc. GST
T11 General Usage 1
c/kWh 25.377
Feed-in tariff
First 14 kWh 2
c/kWh 10.00
Thereafter
c/kWh 5.00
Solar metering charge
c/day 8.525
Supply charge c/day 123.915000
It’s good for 12 months, but they can also increase prices with notice.
I asked AGL several times if they will be transitioning me to a demand tariff in future, and they did not have an answer.
As in the past, it seems the only way to get a good deal is to get on the phone and negotiate. Not everyone has the capacity to do that and I think that’s really unfair.
Here’s one for the books. Back in July Dodo advised me of significant tariff increases to take effect from 1 August. I then shopped around and found a more attractive deal with EnergyAustralia, so signed up with them on 27 July. So far, so good, but when I received confirmation of the tariffs etc from EA they advised that the new account would take effect from the date of my Last meter reading, which had been back on 19 May. Shouldn’t one rightfully expect that the changeover would occur either immediately via a remote reading of the smart meter or else at the time of the next scheduled meter reading?
It should have raised alarm bells and I know that I should have taken the matter up at the time, but I didn’t. Sure enough I’ve just received my first bill from EA and it covers the period from 19 May to 18 August. I estimate that it has cost me an extra $33 compared with what it would have been if I’d been able to continue on the soon-to-expire Dodo rates.
How is it legal for a retailer to retrospectively charge me for a period when I wasn’t even signed up as a customer of theirs?
An unexpected outcome, it would need both old and new retailers to agree, assuming it is within the rules?
Having changed retailers in SE Qld in April the changeover occurred after we’d received the full details of the new contract. We have a smart meter and received a revised bill from the previous retailer up to the changeover date. There was a fee added to the new retailers subsequent bill for a meter read. It seemed most odd given it’s remotely recorded.
It may be of use to look to the AEMC which regulates the retailers as follows.
The National Energy Retail Rules (NERR) govern the sale and supply of energy (electricity and natural gas) from retailers and distributors to customers in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. The Rules have the force of law, and are made by the AEMC …
Refer to
‘National Energy Retail Rules | AEMC.
There is a 10 day cooling off period when switching suppliers in QLD. Assuming one is not satisfied with the revised offer the contract and changeover can be cancelled by the customer.
The reply as follows is not only relevant to Qld. The decisions by the AEMC and AER apply to the NEM and not just QLD. Note that states also add their own regulations which vary individual outcomes. Victoria & Qld are notable.
That’s a decision for AGL, and every other retailer. They have a choice as the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) notes.
We note that network tariffs are targeted at retailers who package them with other costs, such as the cost of wholesale energy, in their service offerings to electricity customers. As such, the retail electricity tariff may not directly reflect the network tariff.
The Regulators appointed by Government (Federal and State) made the decision to transition to “Cost Reflective” tariffs (Time-of-Use & Demand). They are applied at the level of Network Tariffs. IE how the Retailers are billed by the Distributors. The retailers and industry has have been aware of the changes for approx 5 years.
“The word” according to the AER,
Agree, that for most of us consumers it is.
A customer needs a smart meter to be able to be billed by ToU or Peak Demand.
The Distributors (EG Ausnet, Energex, Powerlink etc) are in control of metering.
The smart meters have been rolled out mostly to solar PV homes and recent new builds.
Consumers supplied with smart meters have not been provided with a practical means of real time monitoring household consumption.
The Regulator could have acted to ensure a well informed public in advance of the changes, as could all of the Governments at State and Federal level. The AER is an extension of the ACCC hence even the ACCC has been well informed of the transition now in place.
There is a significant cost benefit in reducing peak demands on the grid (NEM) and evening out loading of the networks.
The AER,
We believe that tariff reform will allow distributed energy resources (DER) such as solar PV, batteries and electric vehicles to be integrated onto the grid as efficiently as possible.
Network tariff reform encourages more efficient use of networks which helps reduce:
- the need for additional investment; and/or
- the amount of network infrastructure that needs to be maintained.
As customers ultimately pay for these upgrades, tariff reform that encourages a more efficient use of the network will lead to lower network costs for all customers.
It’s now all the more confusing as a result (IMO) of inadequate and poor communication from the industry and governments. There has been a failure to effectively engage with the average consumer and ensure we are all well informed. Many may see the change as an enforced penalty rather than a necessary and beneficial change.
P.S.
Unfortunately for the retailers they are now being asked to sell to consumers decisions made elsewhere. Although from a public view all of the decisions have been made through “public” consultation with full records of submissions, recommendations and final decisions also on the public record. There are tens of thousands of pages and hundreds of documents all readily accessible on line. Few appear to have been keeping up with it or reporting accordingly.
