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Switching providers is a straightforward process and shouldn't cost you a thing if you're not locked into an energy contract.
Energy plans tend to have the best value right when you sign up to them and usually get worse from there. There are a few reasons why you might want to switch:
Most Australians can pick their electricity retailer, but not all. Here's a breakdown by state.
State | Can I choose my power retailer? |
---|---|
New South Wales | Yes |
Victoria | Yes |
ACT | Yes |
Queensland | Yes (South East Queensland only) |
South Australia | Yes |
Tasmania | Yes (very limited options) |
Western Australia | No |
Northern Territory | No |
Establish a baseline with the plan you have now:
When comparing plans, you want to make sure you're considering market offers, not standing offers. You can recognise market offers in the Energy Plan Finder because they will be marked with "X% less" than a reference price or how much you'd pay on a standing offer.
Plans may seem complicated on the face of it, but there are really only three core things that go into determining the cost of an energy plan:
Every energy plan in Australia has an associated fact sheet summarising all of the rates, fees and so on. By comparing the usage and supply charges from a recent energy bill with other plans, you can easily see whether they'll end up cheaper or not.
However, beware of conditional or limited discounts. If you don't meet the conditions for a particular discount or the benefit period runs out, a plan that looks great on paper can suddenly become far worse value.
The outright price for power on a plan is important, but it's not the only thing that matters. Other factors to watch out for include the following:
It depends, but the absolute longest it can take is three months. This is because your energy account will be moved from your old retailer to the new one after the next meter read.
If you have a smart meter and monthly billing, this will happen every month.
For customers with an older analogue meter or quarterly billing, this will be every three months. If you feel that this is too long to wait, you can usually request a special reading from your current retailer, although this will incur an additional fee.
You may see energy plans mention "tariffs". These are how your retailer charges you for your power usage and can be broadly split into four types:
While time-of-use tariffs are tempting, Finder's research has shown that they are more expensive than a single rate for the majority of people. Unless you have very specific usage habits, you'll be better off defaulting to a single-rate plan.
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