Electricity Bill ...OMG!!!

FAR OUT .....

Just went and checked the letterbox, in there was our electricity bill and OMG it's fricken huge .....i heard that electricity was going up but come on this is ridiculous it has doubled since our last bill period.

I'm ringing them to find out what the go is but i've now been on hold for 37mins 43secs and im getting sick of hearing 'thankyou for waiting,be assured your call has advanced in the queue' ....not only am i going to have a HUGE electricty bill but soon it will be a HUGE phone bill to follow...Grrrrr

I saw this on ACA recently - apparently sometimes your usage is 'estimated', and this almost always leads to HUGE overpayments. Check the figures on your bill, and check what your meterbox says now. Does the bill have daily usage breakdown on there? You can work out what your meter SHOULD be reading if their numbers are right, and if they're not, you've gota a case!

Thanks for reminding me, our last one was double the norm for us, and I meant to check it at the time - will do it when I get home!

I have a payment that I set up via scheduled Bpay payments each week so that when my bill comes in it doesn't hurt so much. It helps with the summer electricity for the ducted cooling and the winter gas one for the ducted heating! They are still big and nasty but not as nasty as they could be...

It increased by 23% or something didnt it last year ?? We got a shock last bill too. Normally pay around $600 for the winter months...last year we paid $800 approx...

Lol i was on hold for about the same amount of time this morning to (judging by the hold statement) the same company...not fun!!

Hope you get it sorted!

Ours was up $120 on our last one. I was nearly in tears cause we received rego on the same day.

Gee whizz, i spent just over 1hr on hold to speak to the guy for a whole 5mins if that.

He agreed that the bill seemed extremely high and suggested i go and check the meterbox to see if the reading was out ...he then said if it is and they come and do another reading it will cost me a further $26 (why i have no idea, he didnt explain). He said that electricity hasnt gone up and going by my last bill it seems for the moment he is right in saying that ...maybe it is due to go up soon.

I think we might invest in some good quality candles :laugh:

from what i understand, they don't read your meter every quarter - they dn't HAVE to read it every quarter - i think it's biannually that they HAVE to read it. if they underestimate for one quarter, when they DO read it, you end up with a huge bill to make up for what was missed.

you pay to have someone come and read your meter - if it's accurate, it's on your head as you've requested someone come out and provide a service that isn't required. if it's not right, you can argue your case to have it credited etc.

Interesting BG. Like you Westy, our bill this quarter was massive... we're talking close to $1000. I freaked out when I saw it as I expected it to be large due to the air conditioner, but nothing like it is now. We were using the air conditioning last 1/4 also but this bill is up by 26%.

Lisa...our bill is a little bit higher then yours. I have noticed that $170 of it is from 15Dec-31stDec 2009 so they obviously did our reading a little later and it's only just catching up with us now.

Good job i set aside $50 per week for electricity ...althought this time it wont cover the bill. Not to worry we are big believers of using the equipment we have (air con,spa etc etc) so dont stress too much about it - was just cos it was almost double last quarters bill that shocked me.

I have not nor will i request someone else to come out and take another reading!

take note of your reading date (late march for last quarter, so i would say end of june next time), mark it in your diary and take a reading yourself. when your next bill comes, check and see if it adds up with the reading they've taken.

We got ours today too and also got a massive shock!! I read the bill and am so annoyed that there are $45 service charges (would love to know what they are for) and then $19 for them to read the meter - I'm so annoyed!!! Charging me to do their job - GGGRRR!!!!!

I am in victoria. we are on monthly billing but they don't do a readiing every month. If we get an estimated bill that is over the meter reading we just ring through the correct meter reading and get them to reissue the bill! I am shocked that they are trying to charge you to read the meter. Your eyes are just as good as theirs and it all works out in the end as you have to pay eventually when they read it, so there would be no point in lying!

Anney, that sounds like a great system down there in Victoria.

I think from this week i will be putting $60 towards electricity instead of the $50 i had been putting aside.

Just got our bill. Even though our daily usage is about the same, infact I think it is down just a smidge from last quarter, our bill is up by $90. I know ours is not an estimate as the reader has to come into our house to do them and for some reason I happen to be home every time.

Westy, are you with Ergon? Our bill was a lot higher than usual. Everyone in our town had a higher than usual bill, even people who spend half of the quartely billing period away from home had a higher bill. If you are with Ergon, they will write on the bill in bold, capital letters, that the meter reading was estimated, or that the previous bill was estimated and therefore the current one will seem a little larger than usual (Can you tell we've had a few of these ones due to a dog)

Also, i think on the right hand side of the page, there is a column which states the approximate date for you next reading. Go and read the meter yourself and work out roughly how much you think the bill will be. Their website tells you that it is x amount per kwh, with a minimum amount first...and well...it's a load! I divide the $$ amount by the kw used for the previous period and get the kwh in cents, then multiply it by the meter reading I just took. Don't forget Ambulance and their min charge for hot water, plus if you are on a different tariff for other stuff around the house, etc and whatever else is on your bill :)

Doesn't the fee to come and check the meter suck! I read our meter a few years ago and when i worked out our bill, I freaked out (i had worked out it would be over $1000) I called Ergon and said, I think there is something wrong with the 30 year+ old meter, when i told her the current reading, she laughed at me and said "No one would have a bill that high" Turns out we came in just over $1000 instead of the $1400 I had anticipated! Also turns out, they hadn't read the meter the previous quarter!