Love to know your thoughts on both companies. In WA we have NO competition in electricity providers which is SO WRONG. Thought Choice would do a review. They charge whatever & do estimate readings & actual readings where my box has clear access. All of a sudden you get an $1800 bill for 60 days!! I live alone with a dog & cat, unless they have a party while I am at work!! All other previous & after bills have been around $220. Complaining, getting angry etc etc doesn’t help, they gave me $300 off. $1500 is way too much for 60 days. Such a rip off. Thoughts???
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Welcome to the community @Foreman62.
Starting with some basics, are you able to read your electricity meter and compare the reading as it is now to the reading reported on your last bill? Is your meter an old style mechanical meter or digital smart meter?
Large differences in consumption most often relate to a meter reading error.
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I too would like to know how synergy stacks up to the the eastern state’s energy companies. Are we on a good deal or not?
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Foreman62 those rates sound outrageous compared to a 2 storey house in Melbourne - 2 people and a cat, but we’re retired.
If you reply to mark_m I’m confident he and others will help you compare your rates to eastern states.
I could only find WA govt residential rates posted here Household electricity pricing as of mid 2022.
Have you been complaining to the energy provider - Synergy or Horizon Power about the bill? Or have you escalated your query to the regulator Energy Policy WA EPWA-info@dmirs.wa.gov.au ; (08) 6551 4600. This will be easier when you’ve got comparison data.
If you don’t get help there, you could try escalating a complaint to https://energyandwater.ombudsman.wa.gov.au/ ?
Hey, at least you’re the only mainland state that is expected to have reliable electricity supply by 2027 if I heard this week’s news correctly.
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Welcome to the community @Janet2
The number of “plans” east coast consumers have access to vary by retailer, and location. Within states the supply agreements can also vary by region. There are hundreds of possible outcomes.
Many of us may not know how it is in the west. Although I have family over your way and could ask when we next chat. Are you able to share how your electricity supply is charged and the tariffs (rates)?
EG (gst not included)
Supply charge $1.1962 per day
Digital Smart Meter $0.0775 per day
Usage $0.1906 per kWh
Peak demand $0.1124 per kWh
Solar feed in $0.10 per kWh
This is just one example of a pricing plan - contracts offered by AGL for SE QLD.
P.S.
Note AGL typically display the charges on their billing without gst. AGL add gst as a single line at the bottom of the bill. Others such as Origin include gst in the tariffs.
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WA Unit charge for basic domestic, there are several other rates for off peak, Solar, etc. How do these compare with rates over east?
Home Plan (A1)
Supply charge 107.7685 cents per day
Electricity charge 30.0605 cents per unit
I too live alone and my consumption for Nov2022-Jan2023 was (64 days) and 334.1790 units ie, $169.43. Average is 5.2215units/day
I suggest you go back over your previous bills. On page 1 “How much energy have you used” gives you data about same period last year, the last period and the current bill. You can use those collectively to make a case if you have used an extraordinary number of units.
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I just received my “summer” bill from Synergy. It’s twice as much as my winter bill, as I do use the evaporative cooler quite a bit during the hot months. I have gas for cooking and heating. It was a little under what I was expecting - just shy of $400.
62 day supply charge @ 97.9714 cents / day = $60.74
+
1080 kWh units @ 27.3277 cents / kWh = $295.14
+
GST = $35.59
$391.47
For a bill of $1,800, I would have to have consumed over 5 times as many kWh units.
I had an estimated bill last year after summer. It was a little high, so the next bill was lower after a meter reading.
Several years ago I received a very large bill, so checked the reading myself and found that it was incorrect (by 1,000 units). I called Synergy, and they accepted my reading and sent an updated invoice. I’m hoping that this is what may have happened to you.
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Synergy website says 30.0605 cents per unit of electricity. I have received my recent bill about 2 weeks ago & it was 27.3277 cents per unit. With Synergy, there is one cost for all day. There is no low or high peak.
> Blockquote
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Synergy, who is the only choice of retailer for SW WA offers two tariff options for Perth.
Synergy Home Plan (A1) tariff, per your bill,
Or
Synergy Midday Saver tariff.
The default tariff, unless a customer specifically requests it is the first of the two.
It’s always useful to look at every detail on a bill carefully. Synergy do the same trick, deception, sleight of hand as some other retailers using a tariff that excludes the gst. Synergy cannot advertise the tariff without including the gst, but they can do this little trick on the bill to make the consumer think they are being charged a lower tariff. The gst is added as a lump sum at the bottom of the bill.
Calculating the consumption costs using the tariff and the gst component, 27.3277 c/kWh + 10% gst.
The maths 27.3277+ 2.73277 = 30.0605 c/kWh gst included.
This is exactly the same as the advertised unit cost!
P.S.
What was shown on the $1800 bill mentioned in the OP?
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For the $1800 bill, I received 4 bills in the 60 day bill cycle. I added each bill resulting in the large figure. I paid the first bill, 2 wks later I received another, went to pay it after about 10 days, thought gee, I have only just paid for a bill. Rang Synergy & they explained it was an estimate because my electricity box cannot be accessed easily. I said absolutely no, there is an uninterrupted walkway there. Basically end of conversation. A month later, received another bill. Then at the end of the 60 days, I received another. Added together the 4 bills, bingo… $1800. I complained to Synergy & the first port of call was some young guy. Got nowhere, then rang again, finally to some supervisor & asked how she would feel & if she would question this. Apologies of course. They waivered the cost ($380) of some meter box inspector to look at my box, nothing was wrong with my old style box (renting at the time). Had to wait til this inspection was completed to complain again. Supervisor then gave me $300 off, hence I had no come back & accepted the $1500. Silly me!
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Although the bills as now explained may have been paid, you are still entitled to take the matter further, and have the billing amended with a refund if there has been an error by Synergy.
As consumers we are often sceptical of free offers. This one looks too good to pass up.
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I did that & have screenshotted the application, also the bills in question. Look at the date of issue. That was over a period of one bill cycle…
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Seeing your bill I am so glad I don’t live in WA. In VIC I am billed monthly and consume about 15 Kwh or under and the bill is around $125, We have 3 split systems and 2 tv and mostly use elec for cooking with some use of gas cooktop. I will never complain again.
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The WA Government gave us a credit of $600 for electricity during Covid. Very nice BUT Synergy put up their prices & started to do “tacky” things (like my billing) just after. I am not the only one who had strange bill totals. Living alone & having nothing different in the house was a mystery, esp when my bills are normally about $200-240 for 60 days. I do leave the tv on for my fur babies while I am at work but done that for years. Synergy were saying my fridge is the reason because its toooo old. My fridge is 10 yrs!! They have the monopoly over the market & can charge whatever, their excuse is that their electricity towers & equipment are old & need replacing. Phoning them is a nightmare. We all should live off grid & laugh when they lose money. I now own, & am getting a bigger solar system installed. At the moment, there is a 2kw system that feeds the pool. Life is running on track, fingers crossed 
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While I sympathize with you if you have had a misreading which is an obvious mistake. I an just so thankful that in WA we have no competition. I contrast WA with other states who sold off their power systems for short term neocon gains. You must not have been taking notice of the debacle happening in the states that did, high electricity and gas prices, brown outs, and exorbitant spot prices caused by run down infrastructure all carefully orchestrated by private companies. WA seems to have largely escaped this and kept prices reasonable and delivered a return to treasury.
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At some place on your bills there will be an actual meter reading, preferable a year or so ago. Then you can read the meter yourself. Subtracting the actual reading off an old bill from the reading you make yourself you will find how many units used. Mutliply the units by the rate, multiply the number of days since the bill with the reading by the day rate, add them and that should be more than all the bills since the bill with the actual reading (a little more because the bills will not include days since the last bill).
If the total on the bills is more than what you calculate, it’s a billing problem. Keep at them.
If the total is roughly right, it means those units were used, and there should be a reason. It could be some fault in the wiring, or a failing fridge, and it needs investigation. People have been caught out by something faulty, or something stupid like leaving a heater on in a shed that doesn’t get used.
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Also check the readings same time morning & night to see if there is leakage of power some where. Have you had new neighbours moved in who may have tapped into your system eg illegal drug manufacturers?
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Hi Diana, I did go to the neighbours & asked if their bills were strange but it was a Government paid house with carers & mentally challenged folk. Been like that before I moved into the area. Asked friends & they have a family & a pool. Their bill is no higher than $500. No matter, where I turned, the whole debacle ended up with me not winning & me having to pay for it. I even put it on Facebook thru my local communities. I learnt I wasn’t the only one.
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I had the same experience myself last year - the wheel-type meter had just turned over from something like 39XX but the bottom of the 3 looked like the bottom of a 5 to the meter reader. So, our reading went from something like 3700 to 5990 in one 2 month period, when it should have been 3990. Synergy acknowledged the error and credited me but a. why didn’t their systems pick up such an obvious anomaly and b. why did they not pay the money back rate than give a refund?
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