A Hidden Reason Why Your Electricity Bill Rises

Always Check Your Electricity Bill

Checking the electricity block rate on your electricity bill is very important, when attempting to stay on top of rising power costs.

Whilst householders checking the tariff rate of the electricity bill can be praised, what is being missed by many, is the checking of the block rate quantities. 

In Australia you can be currently billed for your electricity on a single rate, block rate or time of use rate.

When electricity is billed using the block rate method, a consumer will be billed at different electricity tariff rates, for the different quantities of power used. For a sample home using 5000 kWh per bill we would expect to see on the electricity bill,

      0 to 1750 kWh at 24.5 cents per kWh = $428.75.
      1751 to 2750 kWh at 25.5 cents per kWh = $254.74.
      2751 plus at 34.5 cents per kWh = $776.25

      Total Cost Of Electricity Used = $1459.74.

So whilst you may be aware of the fact there is no change to the electricity tariff rate, whilst you are looking back over recent quarterly electricity bills, the size of the block quantity may have changed. And this change can be applied without notice at anytime by the electricity retailer.

It is up to you to notice this change, when you are investigating why your electricity costs have risen, when usage seems to be the same.

We would like to see any changes to the rates, easily summarised on the first page of electricity bills in Australia. Seems to difficult for the electricity retailers we have spoken to though!

Now there are a lot of homes in Australia being caught out by this type of change, where householders report the price of their electricity has not changed, nor the usage. And the question to our office is, "Why has my electricity bill gone up when nothing has changed?" Of course we know something has always changed!

So whilst the electricity tariff rate has not changed, when the block quantity does, this means you are now using more of the higher cost electricity. So your electricity bill rises and you are left scratching your head wondering why.

We know of households where the electricity rate has remained the same over a year, but the block quantity has changed with every electricity bill. We know householders do not see this change, until we point it out to them! 

So whilst it is good practise to focus on the kWh rate, make sure you also focus on the block quantity rate. Let us change the block rate in the above example, to show you this common hidden reason why the bill has risen.

      0 to 600 kWh at 24.5 cents per kWh = $147.00.
      601 to 1200 kWh at 25.5 cents per kWh = $152.74.
      1201 plus at 34.5 cents per kWh = $1311.00.

      Total Cost Of Electricity Used = $1610.74.

Now that is rise of $151 per bill, due to changes with the block quantities, when the tariff rate has remained unchanged. Showing you, you do indeed need to pay attention to the block quantity rate of every electricity bill, to stay on top of your power costs. 

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICES industry in Australia.

What Is Your Sunny Hour Electricity Use?

What Could You Be Saving?

When this question is asked to householders looking for savings on the electricity bill, most do not have a clue. Amazing as this sunny hour electricity use, can be offset by simply installing a solar power system.

Meaning you make your own power, that is simply used by your appliances, during the sunny hours of the day. 

Once you know the usage, you also know the electricity savings you will reap by installing a solar system. Now we are talking here about a solar system connected to the electricity supply via net metering.

This is where the power is for use firstly by the home. If not used then it goes back into the grid for maybe a small feed in tariff. So the winners here, are those homes that use six or more kilowatts of electricity during the sunny hours of the day.

Let us say you use around twelve kilowatts of power during these sunny hours. And that same power is costing you thirty-five cents per unit. Well our maths shows us that is four dollars and twenty cents per day, every day. and this is a cost you could be saving, off the electricity bill. 

As you can see there are excellent possible electricity bill savings to be made!

What needs to be discussed in further detail, is when you are using this power and the size of the loads in question, thus getting a more accurate idea of the true saving. All of these facts are easily discovered when a SOLAR POWER ASSESSMENT of your home is undertaken.

Now if you do not want a Solar Power Assessment you could work this out for yourself by simply reading your electricity meter, at the time the sun hits your roof and leaves your roof.

Another option is to install an ELECTRICITY MONITORING DEVICE where of course you will be able to learn far more, about electricity in your home other than the sunny hour usage.

So what are you waiting for? Solar Power is one of the best ways to save on electricity costs. Not in all cases, but where there is high sunny hour usage, it is sure a great winner!

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICE industry in Australia.

Becoming A Smarter Electricity User In Australia

Stop The Electricity Bill Headache

At Aussie Home Energy we are constantly on the lookout for those people, whom are stuck in a rut with their electricity costs and do not know where to start in doing something about it!

For many of our clients, life is very busy and there is little time to spend on trying to discover the reasons why their electricity costs, are out of control. So realise this now, you are not alone if you are also finding,

• You are often ignoring the electricity bill
• You do not have a clue to understanding the bill
• And you do not know where to start

These common reasons for electricity costs being out of control are a headache for many householders. A headache that has moved recently to migraine severity, after recent rises in electricity tariffs and service costs across Australia.

Unfortunately until the time is found, or contact is made with HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION professionals, nothing much will change for many of these householders.

They will keep on suffering due to,

• Constantly ignoring the electricity bill
• No understanding of the bill's contents

All made worse when there is little time for many householders and the pressure is there to 'pay on time', or get a fine from the electricity retailer.

Now if this sounds like you, then call our office and we will help you move on from the years of being stuck in an electricity cost nightmare!

Let us help you to stop the next electricity bill, from hitting that nerve! You may end up like most of our clients, looking forward to the electricity bills, where they constantly see electricity cost savings.

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICE industry in Australia.

A Website Full Of Electricity Savings Solutions

As our Electricity Savings Solutions website has grown over the years, so has the complexity of the information. 

We have therefore introduced a new menu at the bottom of every page, with the goal of helping you find the information you are looking for a lot easier and importantly quicker.

Services Introduction To Services Sydney Home Power Audit In-Home Electricity Audit Telephone Consultation Metering & Billing Check Strata Power Presentation Sustainability Assessment Solar Power Assessment LED Light Assessment Monitor Data Online Service Monitor Data Extraction Free Advice Friday Aussie Home Energy Home Page About Us Contact Us Service Area Support FAQ Legal Media Business Networking Testimonials Helping The Community Event Calendar Site Map Payment Options Solar Power Introduction To Solar PV Solar Power Assessment Solar Power Monitoring Maximising Solar PV Gain Solar PV Solutions Solar PV Output Factors NET Fit Metering & Billing Types Of Solar PV Meter Energy Calculators CO2 Calculator Energy Costs Calculator News & Videos Website News Electricity News AUS CO2 New AUS Renewable Energy News AUS Energy Saving Videos Social Networking Networks Blog Forum Newsletter

Products 24/7 Monitoring Standby Elimination Switch Solar Power Monitoring Introduction To Monitoring Selecting Your Monitor Monitoring Software Monitoring Web Portals Monitor Data Online Service Solar Power Monitoring Monitoring Solution Ideas Monitor To DIY Audit Tool Complex Monitoring Apps Getting Your Data Online Sample Of Online Clients DIY Electricity Audit Self Audit Solution Spreadsheets & Forms Guides Surveys Energy Reduction Guides Help Us With Our Surveys Electricity Information  Introduction To Supply Electricity Retailers Electricity Distributors What Is Standby Electricity? Electricity Supply Problems Electricity Billing Electricity Concerns Home Energy LPG & Natural Gas Mains & Tank Water Lighting LED Light Assessment Low Energy Lighting LED Comparison Tests Links Energy Saving Complex Monitoring Apps Subscription Email & RSS Subscriptions

Electricity Retailer's Customer Service QOS Powers Debate

Not Happy Jan!

There is so much discussion within Australian households, on the quality of Electricity Retailer's QOS [quality of service], when it comes to finding out what is on offer from their Customer Service centre.

Is it not that long ago where a smart business said such comments as, 'the customer is always right'. Of course everyone has heard this line, which relates to a business wanting to retain it's clients and thus treats then with respect to do so.

Well this clearly is not the case with Australian Electricity Retailers. It appears there is little respect shown for the client and no real effort made to retain the client before, during or after a dispute.

For sometime now at Aussie Home Energy, we have been amazed at what the Electricity Retailer's customer service operatives seem to offer. Where we continually hear that the customer is NOT CORRECT!

A lot of the time we would argue it is the Australian Electricity Retailer's whom are NOT CORRECT! Not at all correct on such issues as,

• Knowing if off-peak electricity is available on-site
• Knowing what hardware is actually installed on-site
• Knowing the correct meter id numbers on-site
• Billing errors with very simple maths
• Billing errors with two electricity tariff types

Now whilst we could list many more issues, the point here is there seems to little progress being made, from what we see and hear, in sorting out these very basic issues.

The client's we visit, seem to have very basic errors with their metering and billing. Errors that should not be there in the first place and at least be very easy to fix over the phone!

The errors are almost 100% of the time, very difficult to fix over the phone! WHY? Because often the householder according to the Electricity Retailer is NOT CORRECT! And in some case photographic information is not enough! In such cases as this the Electricity Retailer is simply not interested, to fixing the issue FAST! 

Add from the Electricity Retailer's Customer Service department a little rudeness, a lack of respect, incorrect facts and more poor QOS and it is no wonder there are many Aussie householders, whom are in a state of disbelief with their electricity billing!

Could all of this poor QOS stem from the poor systems in place for tracking hardware, or the lack of hardware checking, or the sharing / access of information between electricity distributor's and retailer's computer systems. Add to this, possible poor system management and a lack of quality staff training and it is not to hard to understand why householders around Australia have just about had enough.

And when a householder has had enough BAD Customer Service from an Electricity Retailer they do one or both of the following,

They MOVE Electricity Retailers & Call The Ombudsman.

This surely is not the road to progress! Moving electricity retailers is a known area we would say, where errors can occur, so this can create more of the same issues.

Contacting the Ombudsman means creating a case and this takes valuable householder's time. And all of the Ombudsman around Australia, are reporting shocking rises in the number of electricity billing complaints.

• So why is it, the Australian householder is having to suffer all of this heart ache?
• Is it not to hard for the correct regulatory bodies to lay down the correct regulation to stop these very simple errors?
• Why do the Electricity Retailer's themselves seem to be at a loss to driving their own business improvement? 
• What about an Electricity Retailer Customer Survey? 
• Would this not answer a lot of the questions on what needs to be improved?
• Why not use the same team to carry out such a survey. That same team that annoyed all the householders with the constant door knocking to switch electricity retailer's.

Until major development and progress occurs, it would seem the Aussie householder is going to remain in a state of suffering. Suffering from these very, very basic Electricity Retailer errors.

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICE industry in Australia.

Solar Power Data Logging Via Remote Connection

Monitor Your Solar PV Remotely

There are so many reasons for looking at remote access Solar Power Data Logging. You may have seen a suitable SOLAR POWER SOFTWARE APPLICATION, that unfortunately is not available for your OS on your main computer, or the software provides everything you want, except for uploading the data to where you can access it remotely.

In such cases have you ever thought of logging into the solar data logger computer via a remote connection. You may not be aware Windows offers you this service, but often it is time consuming to setup and you need a certain level of expertise. 

So welcome to Splashtop, which allows you to do this very easily. You simply create a username and password, then select the necessary downloads for your hardware.

We were suprised to find we had the Splashtop system up and running, in less than ten minutes.

The scenario we used Splashtop for initially, was to get data from our SOLAR POWER DATA LOGGER software application onto a tablet and mobile phone, for remote access. 

Remote Solar Power Monitoring

On site with the solar array we left a small cheap to run Windows laptop. Being able to access this PC was a breeze with Splashtop.

Take a look at the SPLASHTOP website, where you will find a full list of supported operating systems and hardware.

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICE industry in Australia.