A new online tool is now available to help Victorians save money on their gas and power bills, plus identify the best solar feed in tariff arrangements.
Victoria’s Minister for Energy, Lily D’Ambrosio, officially launched Victorian Energy Compare on the weekend, which was developed to replace My Power Planner.
Some of the features of Victorian Energy Compare that weren’t available in My Power Planner include gas and solar information.
It seems it could be quite worthwhile for Victorians to give the tool a whirl, using information either from their smart meter or power bill.
“Ninety per cent of Victorians who have used the Government’s independent energy comparison tool have found electricity offers that could save them money, with half the users finding offers that could save them more than $330 per year,” said Minister D’Ambrosio.
“Victorian Energy Compare is the only independent comparison tool in the market that has every generally available electricity, gas and solar tariff and lets you use your own energy usage to find the deal that can save you the most on your bill.”
A very quick test we ran on the tool based on a solar household profile showed a difference of nearly $900 annually between the cheapest offer and most expensive. The difference in solar feed in tariff between electricity retailers was as much as $70 annually; but feed-in tariff rates shouldn’t be the only factor owners of solar power systems examine – the devil is often in the detail of plans.
The average Victorian household spends about $2,800 on gas and electricity bills every year – around 2.3 per cent of the average household income. However, for lower income households, the proportion spent on energy bills is up to about 7 per cent.
In these days of high customer churn among electricity retailers, a surprising detail in the Victorian Government’s announcement was nearly a third (32%) of Victorians have never switched electricity or gas retailers.
Electricity prices in Victoria increased by an average 2.5 per cent in 2013-14 after jumping almost 20 per cent in 2012-13. Retailer charges have risen 212 per cent since 2008.
According to Energy Matters, a good quality 5.2kW battery-ready solar power system installed in Melbourne can provide a financial benefit of $1,159 – $1,833 annually; depending on installation scenario and electricity usage profile.
