Just rang Energy Watch, a broker of Energy Australia, got 12% usage discount on Ele & Gas + $100 credit from Energy Australia. If you are with Energy Australia, it will not change your bill account. Even you're still in the contract with EA, you still can get this discount and credit.
Good Luck!
Yes. As in http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/energywatch-faces…
DISGRACED energy broker EnergyWatch and its former CEO Ben Polis face hefty penalties after the Federal Court ruled they both made "false, misleading and deceptive" claims in a series of high-profile advertisement campaigns.
Can you please post some details of how the discounts/credits are applied?
I firstly rang EA to see if they could give me some more discount. They told me 7% is what they can do, but Energy Watch is their broker and could offer more. Therefore I rang Energy Watch and they gave me this offer. Some of my friends also got it as well.
I'm in NSW
So the 12% discount is permanent, and the $100 is a one-off on the first bill after you sign or something?
Any lock-in contract and exit fees with this Energy Australia plan you got?
Currently getting 12% off with AGL in NSW with no lock-in contract (Freedom 12 plan), but am somewhat tempted to switch to Energy Australia for that $100 credit all other things being equal. :)
so can you sign up with them for 1 months get the $100 credit and then switch again?
@huntress_love: Bargainaholic reported below that this Energy Australia plan has a two year contract, so you won't be able to switch again after 1 month without paying a hefty contract break/exit fee.
i thought they got charged for flawed?
is that the same as fraud in Asia?
advertising i thought..mistyped. ah well
Um - 12% off what price? Make sure you check the bottom line, 12% off one price can still be more than the normal price elsewhere…
Good point. 12% off one price isn't the same as 12% off another price.
hey go2home, you related to energy watch or energy australia in any way?
Aust Power + Gas have been offering 16% but lock in for 3 years.
Another broker mentioned they could offer Lumo for 13% from total bill, not just Elec but typically they never rang me back.
All depends on the start off rate to make a fair comparison.
but arent the rates the same and set by the government?
And here is the big misconception… bare with me as I used to work for a gas and elec company… shifty to say the least.
The rates are set by the government and increase inline with CPI (Consumer Pricing Index). However, when you take up a market offer, such as this one, and any other offer you hear mentioned, you then allow the retailer to increase their rates however they like, which obviously means more then CPI.
What a good friend of mine in the industry has calculated is that, if you do not take up a market offer but a Standing Offer Tariff, or an MUT (Maximum Uniform Tariff), basically something that is the opposite to a market offer, even though you may be getting 12% off with the market offer (usually only the rates, before GST, and nothing off the supply charge) you still come out better off in the long run… and you aren't locked in.
As far as I am aware you can only get a non-market offer if you are with the retail arm of the supply company for your area.
You can find your elec supply company here:
http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/energy/electricity/electricity-dis…
You can find your gas supply company here:
http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/energy/gas/gas-distributors
Unfortunately I only have the corresponding retailers for Victoria.
Powercor Australia = Origin
SP Ausnet = TRU
United Energy Distribution = AGL
Citipower = Origin
Jemena = AGL
Multinet = Origin
MdMa7 - you are a little out-of-date. It must be about 10 years since the rates were set by the government and increased inline with CPI (Consumer Pricing Index) in NSW and Vic. Vic has no electricity retail pricing regulation at all these days. The information above regarding "corresponding reatilers in Victoria" has absolutely no relevance any more.
NSW, SA, Qld and ACT have reglated prices set on the basis of assessment of costs + margin - not increase by CPI.
WA had prices that didn't rise for a decade, and now has seen large price incresaes to catch up.
I only got offered 7% on my Gas $50 Credit and 12% on my Electricity.
Waste of time, they better not add my email to some spam list as well!
I just spoke to someone at energywatch….
They offered me 12% off total gas & electricity bills + $100.00 Credit on a 2 year contract.
The discount % may depend on which state you are in.
So, if I just call up Energy Australia and ask them for a discount. I should get one right?
Please provide a guide to getting a discount. I'm not going to use energywatch. I would use those other group energy buying guys but I don't know which one is good.
Furthermore, can I call on the weekends?
Owned by Tru Energy
Not happening in my area in SE Qld - only 10% & re contract if with Energy Australia :( - Energy Australia won't go above my existing 8%
So now the average consumer is not necessarily better off just confused as hell…
I found this for VIC. May be useful to try and compare apples across all (not just those with kickbacks for brokers)
http://www.yourchoice.vic.gov.au/search
I recently made a spreadsheet for nsw electricity and gas prices. Firstly, rates and fixed charges are not the same. So looking at discount percentage only is meaningless. I compared origin, tru, agl and EA (owned by tru but different rates and discounts).
Origin has the best gas+electricity combined offer in NSW then AGL ( yes I included the $100 one off payment) then EA and lastly Tru.
My comparison is only based on advertised discount and rates. If you call them Im sure you can get better discounts than advertised ones.
I'm in NSW - sydney north shore
got deal with Origin for 1 year contract
with 16% discount on Elect & 14% discount on Gas
additional $100 Credit ($50 for elec + $50 for gas)
keep in mind the discount works as below:
Electric:
Normal Discount 12%
add 1% when you have elect & Gas with them
add 2% when paying on time
add 1% when setting up a direct debit
But they will charge 0.6% when direct debit to Credit Card
so max discount is 16%
Gas:
Normal Discount 10%
add 1% when you have both account
add 2% when paying on time
add 1% using direct debit
0.6% charge when direct debit to Credit Card
so max discount is 14%
I think Iselect also give similar discount.
just enter all your detail on Iselect web site pretending you are looking for best deal. And wait until they call you back
This is much better deal with what energy australia offered me
How did you get these discount rates? The discounts on Origin website are lower than you state and no mention of $50 credit.
This is what they offer:
Choose Origin for your electricity and natural gas needs, and we'll reward you with a discount on your usage^ for 12 months.
With our DailySaver energy offer, you'll receive:
a 10% discount on your electricity usage^ for 12 months.
a 5% discount on your natural gas usage^ for 12 months.
an additional 2% discount on your usage when you pay your bills on time^ for the term of your energy plan.
an additional 1% discount on your usage when you choose Origin for both electricity and natural gas^ for up to 12 months.
an additional 1% discount on your usage when you pay by Direct Debit^.
I got letter from Energy australia about my contract is expiring in xxxx.
Then I used iSelect to find out whose able to give me a good price.
iSelect shown me that Origin is the best choice.
within few days someone from iSelect called to followup with my enquiry.
They inform that when sigining up with Origin via iselect, they will give 15% disc on elec + 12% on Gas + $100 Credit on the bill.
Not sure about all the hipe, so I told them that I will call back.
Then I checked with Origin directly, make the call and inform that iSelect gave me that option. The normal sales guy not able to give me the deal. They forward me to a different department for it. Then I inform the deal mentioned by iSelect.
They end up giving me the same deal as iSelect (even slightly better with possible to get upto 16% elec & 14% gas discount)
How long was the contract for?
origin do not discount the fixed supply charge which makes a huge difference as I got an offer for 12% off the whole bill which was better than their normal 12% offer. even increasing % makes little difference if your fixed charges are excluded.
Which company did you sign up to get discount of the whole bill?
lumo.
signed with them after their offer beat origins inflated discounts easily
origin excludes the service fee which really cynically distorts the impression of the true effect on the discount when half the bill may be excluded!
How long was the lump contract?
This is true, they do not discount the fixed supply charge.
But have compared the fix supply charge between enery australia vs. origin
they are the same. I just received the new contract from Origin and compared them with previous energy australia bills. They are the same
I believed in NSW they are all the same as it follow what the goverment regulation is.
The only different is how much each supplier willing to pass the discount to individual customer
The way this discussion is headed it probably deserves to go in the forums - certainly generic advice on choosing electricity and gas retailers would have a place there.
Had the absolute worst ever customer service experience with Energy Watch… so watch out and stay away!
Anyone got info on inner Sydney areas? I heard the rates and offers differ even within the same city.
The rates don't compare to what I get with Momentum here and what others are getting with DoDo.
So which company is the cheapest for AUSGRID?
Welcome comments and feedback on lumo energy.
They offered to discount the:
by 13% for on time payment.
Apparently you can also break contract with them with no penalty as long as you give them the chance to match or beat a newer competitive offer.
I like that idea as the customer retains a higher degree of power in the relationship and keeps the power company on its toes.
Welcome feedback from forum experts or anyone who has dealt with lumo. Thanks.
I know it takes hours of looking up c/kwh, supply charges, and a spreadsheet! So I bet someone here has done it. Who is currently cheapest in NSW for electricity only? (We don't have gas.)
Last I checked it was Dodo… is that still true?
I signed up with Dodo a while ago and they were miles cheaper than most of the others, I also get 20% pay on time discount. Don't get too caught up in contracts. Most of the retailers charge you a fee to break the contract, but most of the time it is a very small amount. I signed up for 3 years with Dodo, to break the contract is $36. Just ask them what the contract break fee is. Some gas places I called the fee was around $10.
Is that correct… 20%? I just checked and their site shows 10%. (If 20 is correct, how did you get it?)
I was on 4% off total bill (includes service) for >10yrs years, then 6 months ago I rang them and they gave me 7% off total bill (includes service) with EA and got $5 credit for using Smarterpay (autopay by credit card). I got an ad in the mail last fortnight saying I can get 10% off usage (2yr contract) which I then signed up. With recent price rises and more coming in July, it made it worth while for me. Now on 12% +$100! Thanks go2home!
Hang on… this 0.6% creditcard business… did I just lose out on the Smarterpay credits?
I just read about Dodo… Doh! Doh!
<sigh> I should have waited for you wonderful people to comment before jumping.
I just did a comparison using our past 12 months of bills. If I go with Dodo (instead of EA) I'd save about $100 a month.
Did you use the Dodo site for comparison?
Sorry - $100 per bill - not per month. But yes, checked using their site. Average bill of about $450 with EA would become about $350 with Dodo.
10% less if I use Dodo. Will ring and check on contract break fee.
Found out Dodo works better for me
We rang around and found Origin Energy were prepared to give us 14% off electricty (10+2+1+1) as mentioned above. We proceeded to sign up with Origin from AGL and AGL called me to make a counter offer when they received Origin's transfer request.
AGLs offer was 15% off electricity (same underlying NSW rates as Origin) and 12% off gas (same underlying NSW rates as Origin) usage rates. AGL contract length is 3 years electricity and 2 years for gas.
So I called Origin back and they then offered 16% (12+2+1+1) off electricity and 14% (10+2+1+1) off gas with contract length of 12 months - and claimed this was their best offer.
Holy crap that's good! I just sign up for Origin's daily saver plan 12+1+1. Feel a little ripped off now..
Just noticed that I had a similar experience as phan28282 above and ended up with the same outcome.
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/69872#comment-869757
This the mob had the CEO sacked?