Thank you all for your replies. The issue has been solved, and it was a mistake caused by the distributor.
[Resolved] Illegal Energy Price Increase Notice from ReAmped
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you don't get a choice, it is done by the distributor, not the retailer.
If the customer has a smart meter, they can usually ask to switch between time of day or anytime. What usually happens is that customers get moved to time of day. Maybe the OP could call the retailer and ask to followup with the wholesaler
It has been done by the distributor for the entire apartment. I have no control at all.
I doubt it is illegal, you may want to review the fine print in the contract with the retailer.
The AEMC advance notice requirement includes an exemption for:-
"where changes to the tariffs and charges are a direct result of a network tariff reassignment by the distributor."In my experience, the retailer has no control over tariff reassignments and they can be notified retrospectively (at the end of the month) by the distributor.
I had mine switched to anytime for about a month and then back to time of use a little later with another retailer. It was probably triggered by installing solar and it took some time with meter consolidations. I had something similar with another house many years ago, again probably triggered when adding solar.Also 150 kwh daily is huge, I am surprised they dont put you on commercial rates.
Their justification is just: it is not a price increase, it is a change of the "tariff structure", so it is legal.
I don't think this triggers a "reassignment". Both the Time-Of-Use and single-rate were previous assigned and there is no change after checking the wholesale price from Evoenergy.
But I am angry because they are going to take advantage of the customers to avoid their loss, probably because of the late awareness of the tariff change from the distributor.
On face value this isn't the retailer's (ReAmped's) fault. The Distributor has changed the tarrif for your building and has only now advised the Retailer of the change, who has now advised you.
Could it have been handled better? Probably.
Should you have to pay? No. But then neither should ReAmped.
Should you take it further? I think so. You've got someone trying to retrospectively charge you more for electricity you've already used. Regardless of the legality of it, it is wrong.Contact the Ombudsman and see what you can do. Naturally, please update your post with the results like everyone else here does.
If you have made a change to control load or installed a smart meter then this is perfectly normal. They warn you before putting a smart meter that the Tariff can change.
Nothing stopping you moving retailers
Energy prices are going up, and no tribunal complaint is going to stop that.
Or turn your server off if it's not financially viable
Yes the energy price is going up rapidly, but I cannot tolerate that they want to overcharged me $300 by just give me a "minus-3-week notice".
Your daily energy usage is 150kwh? I'd be more worried about that than anything else.
Diamond hands!
Those plants don't grow in cold winter darkness.
But man, even if the 150kWh is all off peak, that's 6k a year under the old tarrif!
Maybe a crypto mining bro?
Damn your rates are still so cheap compared to SA
EWOV have always done right be me.
Sounds like you have good basis to deny the bill and once you have your money's worth - get out of there.
You are probably better switching anyway.
I am not short of a few coins, but I regularly receive late payment notices from my retailer. They don't matter.
Exercise your rights and push your retailer to act in fair and just manner. Having an upset electricity retailer is definitely one of the more inconsequential hassles in your life. I've taken my retailer to the Ombudsman four times! I have only ever taken one other company.
As for taking a hit on your credit rating, this will happen late in the process and usually only after Ombudsman has ruled and you've refused to pay. So you should have plenty of time to avoid that provided you refer the matter to the Ombudsman in a reasonable timeframe (usually we're talking several weeks/months, not days).
EWOV have always done right be me.
It isn't really clear if OP is in VIC or not. They haven't filled out their profile completely.
Very true.
I am in ACT, not sure about the complaint process. I denied the bill and refused the payment, deleted the stored card, and locked the payment card (I will get a replacement card with a new number then). I gave them a written inquiry and asked for a solution to the tariff change, usage, and billing. I am still waiting for their reply, and in the meantime, switched the retailer. It seems the switching process takes 10 business days (after the cooling off period).
I got a similar email, time to change companies i think.
"i dont like the price increase, but i haven't shopped around"
At least your supply charge has been halved.
Always vote with your feet and move providers. It is an easy few clicks these days.
At least your supply charge has been halved.
At 150kWh average daily usage, that supply charge differential will mean **** all.
Wow… that FiT is terrible and that daily connection price, ouch. Time to start looking for a new electricity supplier…
OP, you clearly owe Reamped your charges until this point as I am sure they will be legal under the supply agreement that you signed.
You have been switched from a plan that suits high users to a plan that would suit low users more. I would call Reamped and ask if they have a better plan for your usage patterns than the one you have been switched to.
If not, shop around for a lower usage rate as I'm sure you will find one.
This is an incredible 65% price increase considering I have a server running 24 hours/day, and my daily energy usage is about 150kWh, evenly distributed across the 24 hours of a day.
Based on this alone, I call BS on your entire story. You're don't "have a server running", you are running a mining farm. If you're already being 50% honest on this post, your entire story is pretty doubtful IMO.
I am doing research works on AI, and the model training takes several hours.
Thanks to the bad heat insulation and the direction of the window opening. I have to turn on the cooler in the morning and the heater at night.
Mining machine? Yes, I have 10 BTC mining machines, but hosted somewhere else with 6c/kwh. The total daily consumption is over 800 kWh. Running them at home, with $0.226/kWh, I will lose money with the current BTC price.
Mining at home is definitely a bad choice. You have to pay 3 times higher tariffs, tolerate high noise, and your neighbours' complaints. Also, I don't think the electricity capacity in an Apartment can allow you to turn on 35kw machines.
The retailer hasn't done anything wrong here, the price they get charged is based on the tariff configuration that you have, and it has been initiated outside of their control. All they get is a feed of changes coming to them and they act on them accordingly, which quite often happens some time after the event. They don't need to give 5 days notice, as they haven't changed anything themselves. They are just reacting to the notification they get from your distributor about your tariff.
The exact same situation would be happening in reverse, in that they would retroactively apply the change if the price went down, but then you wouldn't be here complaining about it… The supply charge has almost halved on your new plan, which was applied as of the same time as the rate change. The only problem here is the cons outweigh the pros for you, but for a lot of their customers it might be a net positive.
I agree that they did nothing wrong to update the price. However, there are lots of miscommunications in between.
1. I haven't received any notice from the distributor (Evoenergy) that the tariff structure has been changed.
2. The retailer should get the notice earlier than me, because they are doing the business directly with the distributor.
3. If they give a 5 days notice. Or even a notice that "I will update the price from today", I cannot make any comment.
4. If I knew the significant price increase, I would change the provider.However, they want to collect the money back from 3-weeks ago.
This is just a personal justification, depending on the importance of $300 in your daily life and psychological feelings. If they only ask for $20 more, I won't even bother to send the email. If they asks a money back and update the invoice from the previous year, do people still accept?Did you try to find out why the structure was changed rate to 'anytime'? These days the change is usually to 'time of day' rather than the other way round.
With ReAmped, you can check the tariff structure of neighbouring houses to see if they still get 'time of day'? Then you could ask ReAmped to check from the distributor why you were switched.Exactly, you are angry at your retailer but they are at the mercy of the distributor. These notifications can come through weeks after the change has happened, and yet the retailer gets billed the higher rates the SAME DAY that they came into effect for you. You SHOULD be trying to figure out why your tariff was changed and who initiated it, not complaining about an "illegal" price increase, when it clearly wasn't.
And even if you change provider, you're still going to be on the same tariff. That part of the equation isn't going to change. And for some people, that change of tariff may be beneficial given the significant reduction in the daily supply charge.
@norrisrules: Thanks for your reply. However, the tariff structure was changed by the distributor without any notice. Both me and the retailer cannot do anything. It was changed from time-of-use to "on demand tariff". Some of the retailers who don't offer on demand tariff will use a single-rate to offset their "loss". It seems like ReAmped abandoned my area, because $0.226/kWh is even more expensive than Origin, Energy Australia, and ActewAGL.
@GiftCardHunter: It seems that they changed it again from on-demand to anytime tariff after I checked the rate from many providers. WTF is that.
I got one of these and immediately changed to an ozbargain deal with woollies gift card
Which deal was that? I have been comparing providers and NECTR seems the best - 12 month fixed term rates:
Anytime: $0.1958/kWh
Ctrl Load 2: $0.1727/kWh
Supply Charge: $0.825/dayI figure it's worth signing up to keep the rates for a year but looking for a referral code to get the $50 back…..unless there is a better deal to be had…
Thank you all for your replies. The issue has been solved, and it was a mistake caused by the distributor. I received the email finally. And the updated tariff is:
Peak
$0.2338/kWh
Shoulder
$0.1533/kWh
Off Peak
$0.1362/kWh
Feed-in Tariff
$0.0200/kWh
Daily Supply Charge
$1.2771/dayHi ******
Apologies for the miscommunication caused.
Hope you're doing well.
I see that your tariff was changed in error to anytime. Changes are made and you are put back on to Time of use tariff again.
Do reach out to us on live chats for any queries.
Regards,
Why did you change to anytime metering? All.seems legit if this is something you requested.