Here is a checklist to help you understand how you're being charged for your energy use.
Seasonal
Heating your home in winter and cooling your home in summer increases your energy usage. Compare your bills from the same time of the year to track these periods where your usage is typically higher.
Visit Saving Energy In Your Home – seene for more information.
Bill period
How many days are you being billed for? Check that you’re comparing bills with the same number of days in a billing period. If you’ve recently moved house, your first bill may be for a shorter than usual bill period depending on the meter read cycle and when you moved.
Previous bill
Is there a balance that’s been carried forward from your previous bill?
Concessions
Check your entitlements to, and expiration of, rebates, and concessions. See if they’ve been deducted from your total costs in the “Government concessions or rebates” line item under the “Understanding your bill” section of your bill. Note that entitlements can be slightly different with embedded network providers and may not appear on every bill.
Visit Concessions – seene for more information.
Moving home
If you have moved recently, your new home might be larger or less energy efficient than your old home. It may also have different types of heating or cooling installed that may use more energy than at your old home.
Additional people
Visitors, housemates, a new baby, or even school holidays, could mean that more people are at home, increasing energy usage
Monitor usage
Keep track of your energy usage by looking at your “Daily Average Use” every quarter. You can find it in the “Electricity usage and greenhouse gas emissions” section on your bill.
By logging in to the MyAccount Portal you can view your usage over time. If you have a smart meter, depending on the type of meter installed at your property, you can view your usage daily, weekly, monthly or, where sufficient usage history exists, annual basis.
Visit Getting started with the web-portal – seene for more information.
Is your meter number correct?
Ensure that the meter number on your bill matches the meter number on the meter. If you notice there is a discrepancy, please contact us and let us know.
Hot water system
Your hot water can also contribute to your bill's cost. Reducing the amount of time spent in the shower and washing your clothes in cold water could reduce your consumption throughout the year.
Solar tariffs
In most cases, the solar energy you generate doesn’t fully off-set your energy usage, especially in winter due to shorter days and poorer weather.
This can also be because there may be a mismatch between when you generate solar energy and the time of day when you use the most energy. A battery storage system allows you to store electricity from your solar panels when the sun is shining, so you can use the stored power at another time.
Visit Solar – seene for more information.
Appliances
Have you recently purchased a new or larger model of an existing appliance? Are there any faulty or old appliances around your home? These appliances could be using more energy. To find out how much energy your appliances use go to energyrating.gov.au.
Renovations or extensions
It is common for energy usage to increase during the construction stages. And once the renovation is complete, your new space may include more lights and power points, and may use more energy to heat and cool.