EnergyAustralia sets out to fix rising electricity bills with new Secure Saver plan
If sky high electricity bills are keeping you up at night, EnergyAustralia’s newly launched Secure Saver plan might be a welcome change, promising to lock in usage and supply charges for the next two years.
Since the July 1 energy price hikes, news about the cost of electricity hasn’t been great for Aussie households, with the ACCC recently revealing that the average energy bill has hit $1,500, and some sources saying the $100 - $115 in savings promised by the Government’s NEG could be closer to $25 a year.
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According to EnergyAustralia Chief Customer Officer Kim Clarke, households in some states have already seen their energy bills increase by around 20% this year. Victoria in particular is set to be hit by ever-rising prices, as the impact of Hazelwood power station’s closure and higher gas costs become apparent.
Mozo research shows that compared to this time last year, energy prices have risen by as much as 29% in Victoria, 18% in NSW and South Australia and 5% in Queensland.
EnergyAustralia’s new Secure Saver plan, available in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, is aiming to combat these price rises. By jumping on the Secure Saver plan, Aussies can lock in fixed usage rates and daily supply charges for the next two years, but still benefit from tariff reductions during the fixed period.
By 2019, when the fixed period ends, strategies to make clean energy more readily available and affordable should have eased pressure on electricity prices according to Clarke.
"Our customers are worried about energy prices and not just what they are today, but what they’ll be tomorrow,” said Clarke.
"That’s why we created Secure Saver; it’s for households which want the certainty of knowing their energy rates won’t go up – and can only come down – until 2019.”
How does the Secure Saver stack up?
The new Secure Saver plan comes with a supply charge of 109 cents per day and usage charge of 24.17 cents per kWh. A 3 person household in Melbourne with an average usage of 13kWh per day might have a quarterly bill of $331 on the plan, according to our Energy Cost Cruncher.
The same family could pay as little as $237 per quarter on the lowest cost plan in our database, which comes with a supply charge of 110 cents per day and usage charge of 15.5 cents per kWh.
Taking into account rising energy prices - which is what the Secure Saver is designed to do - prices would have to increase by about 40% before this cheaper plan reaches the same price as the Secure Saver. If current trends are anything to go by, that may be possible for certain states in the next two years.
Concerned by rising power bills? Head over to our Energy Cost Cruncher to find out if there’s a cheaper plan out there for you.
