Business & Finance Utility costs

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Jun 19, 2011
17,840
30,088
MCG
AFL Club
Hawthorn
How much does your gas and electricity cost you?

I'm in a 4 BR home, use the heaters 2-3 hours a day. Kids spend about an hour a day on screens. We don't use loads of lights. Kids are young, so they don't shower every day. No special equipment draining the juice.

Latest bill was $210 for one month of gas and electricity. Died thus sound about right or should I look to switch providers?
 
Apr 12, 2010
14,674
23,284
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
Do you live in Victoria? If so, go to the government website dedicated to finding you a good deal. Hey, they even give you 50 bucks for trying. (Not sure if that scheme is still going though)

Your bill didn't seem too outrageous. So many variables though, how many fridges and freezers you have, how good they are, same with washing machines. Using a dryer uses a lot of power.
 

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Bigjobss

Cancelled
BeanCoiNFT Investor
Apr 7, 2017
2,235
2,476
AFL Club
Essendon
Holy s**t put on a jumper!

The three of us are in a well insulated smaller 2 bed house and just got gas $150 for 2 months and electricity - $195 for 3 months. We are pretty conscious about turning things off etc.

Gas water, heat, stove and a standalone deep freezer, no dryer.
 
Aug 31, 2012
2,565
4,938
Pining for the fjords
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
******* stupid game

There is a new initiative, the Victorian Default Offer. Not 100% what it's all about. But it purportedly gives a "fair", if not the best, price.

The Victorian Default Offer, like the Default Market Offer in other states, is a cap on the Standing Offer, which is the default rate that people who can't be bothered to shop around get. It's also what people with a poor credit history can end up on.

So if you're on the VDO or DMO, you're still paying too much. You're just paying slightly less than you were. Go to the government's website, enter your details and call the cheapest retailer.

www.energymadeeasy.gov.au for non-Victorians.
 

Wind Guard

All Australian
Aug 2, 2017
618
572
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Victoria is a good case to examine.

The Kennett regime in the 1990s privatised the Latrobe valley Brown Coal Power generation sector to US corporate interests for about $5 billion. At the time the Victorian government was collecting about $900 million per year from the sector which employed about 18,000 workers and power was capped at below 12 cents per kWhr. The state also provided off peak rates for hot water systems (3 cents/kWhr) as well various deals for pensioners etc. The US corporations eventually sold off their interests because they couldnt control the market price due to the rice cap imposed by the State government. Making profits but NOT enough apparently.

Privatisation has seen rapid increases in power costs whilst employment in the Latrobe Valley has fallen from 18,000 to about 4,000. Currently the Latrobe valley is owned by various foreign corporations such as the Japanese Power Corporation TEPCO (Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown mismanagement King).

The SEC that ran Victoria's power grid was not dismantled after privatisation and still exists today. The SEC still hands out about $200 million each year as a power subsidy to ALCOA - the aluminium producer in Portland. The Victorian tax payer has been subsidising yet another foreign (US) corporation to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

The outcomes of privatising/corporatising valuable public assets are total predictable. Sacking of workers, CEO bonuses, reduction in work safety and conditions and price gouging. As well always having the corporate cap out for tax payer funded hand outs and subsidies.

The recently closed Hazelwood power station by its French corporate owners will need to safely decommissioned due to the presence of asbestos etc. The French corporation will take care of that part right? Take a guess what the Victorian tax payer will need to pay in order to safely decommission the Hazelwood site?

Plenty of examples of this. Socialise risks and costs, whilst privatising/corporatising the profits and power. It's a totalitarian model that results in wealth concentration and the dismantling of what's left of the democratic process.
 
Quarterly gas is about $400 in winter and drops to about $250 in summer. Electricity is a round $360 every quarter, all year round

Just the other week I had 24 solar panels installed so I am expecting my electricity to come back at close to nil and in the refund amounts come summer time
 

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