Why is inexpensive electricity so expensive?

[facthunter]

Your eyes will wear out in their sockets IF you watch too Long. Nev

[willedoo]

54 minutes ago, facthunter said:

I had one meter that wore out and overcharged Immensely. The "Provider" wanted to charge what it read even though they replaced the (very  obviously faulty) Meter.  Get a good provider IF you have a choice. Nev

Nev, I've been with Origin for quite a few years now and have had a fairly good run with them. I swapped over from AGL back when they lost a lot of customers, mainly due to their billing department. They overcharged me on a bill and I think it took 9 months from the start of the process until they finally paid it. At one stage they got into a lot of trouble in this district and customers left them in doves. They got into trouble over fake local newspaper headlines. If a customer left, they would print a fake copy of the local paper, with the ex customer's name splashed across the headline. The printed story was designed to shame the customer with very disparaging headlines about why they left. Some old ladies received it in the mail and thought it was real and it caused them a lot of stress. I think from memory the head of the billing department was forced to resign over it. I'd already left AGL by then, but I remember their billing department at the time as being very arrogant and difficult in my dealings with them. What a way to do business. It took them a long time to recover any sort of reputation in this district after that.

 

The way it works here, Energex (formerly government owned South East Queensland Electricity Board) is the supplier and you have to buy your power from a retailer of your choice. Origin in my case. The meter reading is all done by Energex sub-contractors and Energex passes the numbers on to the retailer. The Energex sub-contractor for the meter reding is Cleanaway and it's gone way downhill since they took that job over. When Energex did the meter reading themselves, it was faultless.

Edited 5 hours ago by willedoo

[facthunter]

Aren't the Latest meters read remotely? I'm with Momentum. Tassie Hydro. . Not available everywhere.  Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

2 minutes ago, willedoo said:

Nev, I've been with Origin for quite a few years now and have had a fairly good run with them. I swapped over from AGL

 

I did exactly the same thing just a few minutes ago. I was searching for a cheaper rate and chose Origin, then got a phone call from iSelect to change me over from AGL.

 

After going over my bill, AGL failed to deduct one of my discounts. I won't chase the discount. Instead I've finished up with them

[willedoo]

9 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Aren't the Latest meters read remotely? I'm with Momentum. Tassie Hydro. . Not available everywhere.  Nev

I'm not sure whether smart meters are available down our road. In theory you would think it would be a much better, more efficient way of doing it.

 

All in all over the years, I've had a fairly good run with meter reads. When Energex did it themselves it worked good. They had Energex employees in Suzuki 4wd vehicles that could access all the rural properties. When Cleanaway took over, they didn't want to tackle rural driveways so they'd leave a card in the letterbox saying they couldn't get access and would estimate it. The only irritating thing about it was the BS they'd put on the card as the reason they couldn't access the property, eg: weather when it was a perfectly sunny day, dog on premises when there is no dog etc.. I was glad when they eventually stopped leaving the cards with the fairy stories.

 

 Back when Energex used to read the meters, I had a visit one day from a bloke who had come to investigate if I was stealing power. What it was is that I have 3 phase power but the third phase is not connected to the meter as I don't have any 3 phase equipment and only use the outlets from the other two. Every meter read it would show up as two meters with a reading and one was always still on zero. Once I explained the situation, they were happy and I never heard any more about it again.

[octave]

11 minutes ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

I did exactly the same thing just a few minutes ago.

Good job GON.  Even if you only save a small amount, it is good take action and feel that you have some control.

[facthunter]

I have 2 Phases also and it's  DUMB situation specially if you have Panels and  a battery. I've Had a "new" electrician Here for about 4 hours today rectifying the incorrect wiring.  Nev