Electricity Distributor Demand Charge/Tariff

bigbadboogieman on 26/07/2023 - 09:46
Last edited 26/07/2023 - 09:50

Not sure if people know this as I just came to know about it quite recently. I got surprised so decided to create an awareness post.

When my current electricity plan expired, I called multiple other smaller retailers to discuss their cheapest plans. Most declined to quote me because the distributor (Endeavour Energy) had changed my meter to "Peak + Demand" Tariff. The smaller retailers basically told me they didn't have the ability to sell this tariff and advised me to go to a bigger retailer.

I reached out to my existing retailer and they too only offered me Demand charge based plans (which was a complete rip-off). It had higher usage + demand rates plus way higher supply charges. I asked if there was an Opt-out because I never consented or requested to be put on Demand based tariff. Even my current tariff (that was about to expire) was just single rate usage + supply tariff. Long story short, I had to go through a whole opt-out process as a residential customers and today I got to accept a single rate plan which had lower pricing on both usage and supply prices. The tag line they use is "Demand charges are built to encourage lower energy use". What it means is that "Demand charges are designed to rip you off in the name of encouraging lower energy use".

Please check your Tariffs. If it's demand based, try to work out if it's cheaper if you apply for an opt out of Demand charges.

Electrical & Electronics Electricity

Comments

  • jv on 26/07/2023 - 09:54

    My current prices are :

    Daily Supply : 86.020 c/day
    General Usage : 16.100 c/kWh

    How does that compare to what you got?

    • bigbadboogieman on 26/07/2023 - 22:01

      Yours are excellent. Which retailer - what suburb?

      • jv on 26/07/2023 - 23:29

        Enter your address here to see what rates are available in your area…

        https://www.originenergy.com.au/family-and-friends-vip/

        • Grunntt on 27/07/2023 - 09:19

          To obtain that offer do you need to prove an existing link to an employee with an employee referral code or similar?

          • jv on 27/07/2023 - 09:24
            +2

            @Grunntt: How would you prove you're a friend?
            Links to Instagram pics at the pub?

            I just filled out the form and got it…

            • Grunntt on 27/07/2023 - 10:34
              +2

              @jv: Sounds good to me - will see how I go. Thanks

              May just photoshop the Origin CEO into a couple of pub shots to be sure.

              • jv on 27/07/2023 - 11:06

                @Grunntt:

                May just photoshop the Origin CEO

                No need to be so Frank…

        • A-mak on 27/07/2023 - 23:11

          Supply Charge
          Daily Supply
          98.06 ¢/day
          Usage Charges
          General Usage 0-12
          28.51 ¢/kWh
          General Usage 12+
          29.27 ¢/kWh

          I am with origin and my rates are way worse:
          Daily Supply
          129.940 c/day
          Usage charges
          General Usage 0-11
          28.930 c/kWh
          General Usage 11+
          30.700 c/kWh

          How do I get the better rates? Do I need to swap provider and then come back?

          • jv on 27/07/2023 - 23:23

            @A-mak:

            How do I get the better rates?

            Are the top rates the ones you are seeing for your address?

            If so, just apply and they will change your plan pretty much right away…

            • A-mak on 28/07/2023 - 13:31
              +1

              @jv: Yeah, the latter are my current rates. I'll give it a go, thanks!

              Edit: looks like it has worked, says plan end date 2024, so I assume I would be put back onto the Origin Basic that I was on at that time.

      • olfella on 27/07/2023 - 10:54

        Mine is 72c 18.5 and 9.62 controlled load. Same supplier but you have to pester them.

  • Ocker on 26/07/2023 - 10:38

    What provider?

    • jv on 26/07/2023 - 11:23
      -4

      Which provider?

      user name checks out…

      • Ocker on 26/07/2023 - 11:51
        +6

        Totally useless response

        • jv on 26/07/2023 - 11:58
          -3

          Not if you want to communicate in English.

          https://www.easybib.com/guides/grammar-guides/vocabulary/con…

          • Ocker on 26/07/2023 - 12:31
            +1

            @jv: Not so smart after all ……………….

            determiner: what

            1.
asking for information specifying something.
"what time is it?"
            • jv on 26/07/2023 - 12:43
              -5

              @Ocker:

              Not so smart after all

              I'm sure you can overcome it though with the right attitude.

    • bigbadboogieman on 26/07/2023 - 22:05

      Energy Australia - Endeavour Energy

  • thefreelunch on 26/07/2023 - 10:56
    +4

    Totally agree. Our retailer, Energy Australia, gave us no choice but to shift to a demand charge based scheme when our previous contract was expiring. If you have high energy appliances and use them at the same time, your bill can be insanely high. Worse, there is no way to work out exactly how high beforehand because the tariff (penalty) is applied based on your highest 15 or 30 minute energy use within a bill period - retail customers can't monitor that. As people buy more EVs and charge them at home, demand tariff penalties are going to crucify a lot of people over the next 5-10 years.

  • seannami on 26/07/2023 - 10:57

    I actually just had to opt in to get a super-off peak overnight (with Powershop in Vic). Trying to avoid too much usage in peak times but its been too danged cold!

  • TurboTortoise on 26/07/2023 - 11:15

    Thanks for the alert. I think this just happened to me with Alinta! I saw a peak charge in the last bill and I am pretty certain I used to just have a single general use charge. I moved to Sumo instead.

  • markathome on 26/07/2023 - 11:32
    -2

    Just from an environmental and engineering perspective, because it's difficult to store electricity and oversupply can result in huge problems, there is a significant advantage to having customers on a demand-based tariff.

    Related, but even more dramatic, solar customers who have batteries installed with their panels are doing a lot more for the grid, community and environment than those that just install solar panels.

    It's a shame the market is failing to effectively convey the benefits of these decisions in the prices offered. Once again the environment takes one for capitalism and politicians' inability to get their head around basic engineering means that we are well on our way to significant climate change.

    • bigbadboogieman on 26/07/2023 - 22:03
      +4

      significant advantage to having customers on a demand-based tariff.

      to whom..? definitely not the customer imho.

    • OZBargainer in SA on 27/07/2023 - 08:36

      You're right, many want to save the environment but few will be willing to pay extra to do so.

    • 2esc on 27/07/2023 - 12:24

      Everyone would love to have a battery at home. Personally i would love to go completely off grid but its a matter of a thing called money.

  • minniethemoocher on 26/07/2023 - 13:02

    Thanks for the post. I had not heard of demand pricing tariffs before. There is a good article on choice about these tariffs and it explains how they are far more complex than normal time-of-use schemes and generally a lot more expensive. Good to know you can opt out.

  • Drakesy on 26/07/2023 - 13:07
    +1

    Liberals: "Privatisation will get a better result for everyone"

    • brendanm on 26/07/2023 - 13:32
      +2

      Labor has privatised a tonne of stuff. Even that commie dan Andrews just did a bunch. They are all as bad as each other

      • Drakesy on 26/07/2023 - 13:54
        +5

        *Just not as many critical assets as the Liberal Party.

        Over in WA where Labor blocked the privatisation of the energy market has worked wonders for controlling supply and costs.

        The problem with a privatised energy market is everyone wants to profit but no one wants to pick up the pieces when the grid falls apart as they just offload their customers and disappear into oblivion leaving the government to clean up the mess.

        • brendanm on 26/07/2023 - 16:04
          +3

          Indeed, I don't agree with privatisation of necessary things, it's actually moronic. Just pointing out that it isn't a single party to blame, they all suck.

      • jv on 26/07/2023 - 14:23
        -5

        Labor has privatised a tonne of stuff.

        Hawke & Keating got the ball rolling on privatisation.

        They were also the ones who introduced University fees.

        Dan recently started privatisation of public assets to try and claw back the humongous debt he created.

        • lgacb08 on 27/07/2023 - 07:26
          +2

          Jv is just a mouthpiece of the liberal, it started way before Hawke, remember Medibank used to be v1 of the current Medicare before it gets sold of by who? At state level Kennet was the guy starting it all.
          Both the lib and lab are equally guilty as in selling public assets. Remember WA has always been dominantly run by the lib but they still have a lot of public owned infrastructure.

  • kyle on 26/07/2023 - 15:00

    Had a similar issue with AGL. Got an email saying prices are increasing from 1 August, and at the same time changing my tariff from single rate to time of use.

    There's a tiny line in there saying if you want to keep the current tariff, call them. I don't know how they can just change the tariff unilaterally.

    Anyway it's a very misleading email because it has a table of my current charges on single rate vs a table using the new time of use rates. So it's not really comparing apples to apples.

    So i called them and asked for the new single use rates and repeated three times that I'm not moving to another tariff

    • Bargain-er on 27/07/2023 - 10:32

      Hey, thanks for the info. I just checked my AGL rate increase email, seems mine still shows the increased tarrif but still single rate. Am I missing something? Thanks.

      • kyle on 27/07/2023 - 14:40

        I am on the VIP family and friends plan. Don't know if that made a difference.

        • Bargain-er on 27/07/2023 - 14:44

          Hmmm me too. So ur new rate has the time of usage fee variations, like 7-11 pm is more expensive? Thanks

          • kyle on 27/07/2023 - 14:51

            @Bargain-er: The email attachment has this:

            What’s happening
            Electricity distributors have moved towards more cost-reflective network tariff structures. We’ve also reviewed the types of tariffs we offer to customers. As part of this change, we are moving you to a new Time of Use tariff with a peak rate period of 3pm – 9pm, every day. Off-peak will be all other times. Please note, you can opt out of this Tariff at any time by calling 131 245.

            • kyle on 27/07/2023 - 14:52

              @kyle: New rates

              Effective 1 August 2023

              Electricity usage

              Unit

              GST incl.

              Peak

              c/kWh

              29.667000

              Off peak

              c/kWh

              19.184000

              Supply charge

              c/day

              77.858000

              • Bargain-er on 27/07/2023 - 19:33

                @kyle: Current rates

                Electricity usage

                Unit

                GST incl.

                General Usage

                c/kWh

                19.217000

                Supply charge

                c/day

                87.527000

                New rates

                Effective 1 August 2023

                Electricity usage

                Unit

                GST incl.

                General Usage

                c/kWh

                23.419000

                Supply charge

                c/day

                82.357000

            • xylarr on 31/07/2023 - 16:08

              @kyle: I'm on a TOU tariff - thankfully not a demand tariff. My problem is that AusGrid (Sydney) has defined peak/shoulder/offpeak periods that change throughout the year. My retailer said (and then repeated the claim in an email) that their peak period is 2pm-8pm all year. In winter it should be 5-9pm. I think I will have to wait for my bill to see if they are actually charging me that. It is also going to be super annoying when in spring and autumn the distributor charges them no peak period at all, but my retailer still does.

              And for completeness, I'm paying 80c/day, 34c peak and 23c shoulder and offpeak.

              I wish for the old days when I was paying 23c peak, 18c shoulder, and 11c offpeak

              • adpaholic on 28/08/2023 - 00:42

                @xylarr: Winter 5-9pm peak you sure ? 5-9pm usually only applied to demand tariff

  • reactor-au on 27/07/2023 - 09:02

    It would have been difficult to move back to single rate tarrif because the tarrif code is for your meter number, so your neighbor could have a different rate with the same retailer, and the tarrif code is supposed to be locked for 12 months. The only way to change the tarrif code for your meter before the 12 months is if not changing the tarrif code would cause you financial hardship.

    The retailer cannot change the tarrif code more than once every 12 months but I don't believe there's anything stopping them from changing it other than that.

    These are the energy regulations in most states.

    • bigbadboogieman on 28/07/2023 - 07:11

      They were able to move me so definitely something fishy happened in the background because I never applied to change it in the first place.

      • reactor-au on 28/07/2023 - 08:31

        They can change it once every 12 months from what I understand.
        It is unclear whether they have to ask you first, likely they only have to notify you on rate changes since the network charge is bundled into the supply and usage charge for domestic users.

  • adpaholic on 02/08/2023 - 02:03

    I tried to opt out by after 1 week , agl told me got decline by ausgrid ..

  • donkcat on 02/08/2023 - 12:22

    Biggest surprise to me is you have different supply charges. I'm under Powercore network and the supply charges are the same regardless of TOU or single rate plans.

    When I had solar installed I paid more attention to the energy bills. I noticed I was on a TOU plan which at the time I wasn't happy with.
    I rang up Red Energy and asked to be swapped over, they told me Powercore had to approve the change and given I just had solar installed they recommended waiting a month to apply to increase the chances of being approved. Anyway I crunched some numbers and I was better off with TOU after having solar installed and have stuck with it since.
    Peak prices are between 3-9pm every day so we just don't use the washing machine, dishwasher etc during that period and the solar is still generating to 5-6pm anyway.

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