Some guy on the wireless this morning said that the cost of electricity in Australia was double that in the USA.

I can find detailed numbers for the USA:
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_6_a

(about 13c/kWh residential or 11c/kWh overall)
but I can’t find anything similar for Australia.

Is the mean cost of residential electricity in Australia as high as 34c/kWh (mean price) as the guy claimed? (13 USc x 2/0.75 = 34.67 Ausc)

(If it is, I have an excellent deal).

Just checked my latest bill.

Charge per kWh, without GST, was 24 c/kWh, or about 40% higher than US prices.

Even if we add in the fixed charge and GST it was 29 c/kWh, or about 70% higher than US.

Copied from the Ausnet Annual Tariff report – 2016.

“AusNet Services’ residential tariffs apply to customers using less than 160MWh a year for
predominantly private domestic purposes. These customers are connected to the low voltage
network, 240/415 volts and with a maximum load less than 50kVA.

These Network Tariffs apply only to residential customers who consume less than 160 MWh per
annum. The minimum meter requirement for a customer on this tariff is a basic type 6 single register
meter.

The Small Residential Block tariff consists of a standing charge and a block usage rate. The first
block applies to all usage less than 1,020 kWh per quarter. The second block rate is higher than the
first block rate and applies to all usage greater than 1,020 kWh per quarter. The consumption level of
1,020 kWh for the first block was based on the original retail Maximum Uniform Tariff GD/GR.

The two-part block tariff is targeted to allocating more of the demand-related costs to customers with
larger annual energy consumption. The higher usage rate for the second block provides a pricing
signal to these higher usage customers relating to the increased demand these customers place on
the network at peak times.”

The document then goes on to give about 40 different tariff charge rates depending upon type of customer. It does get very convoluted.

The maximum price I can see for a residential kWh is 36.29 cents – charged during a summer peak period between 2 and 6 pm. The loweswt price per kWh that I spot is 4.6 cents.

sibeen said:

Copied from the Ausnet Annual Tariff report – 2016.

“AusNet Services’ residential tariffs apply to customers using less than 160MWh a year for
predominantly private domestic purposes. These customers are connected to the low voltage
network, 240/415 volts and with a maximum load less than 50kVA.

These Network Tariffs apply only to residential customers who consume less than 160 MWh per
annum. The minimum meter requirement for a customer on this tariff is a basic type 6 single register
meter.

The Small Residential Block tariff consists of a standing charge and a block usage rate. The first
block applies to all usage less than 1,020 kWh per quarter. The second block rate is higher than the
first block rate and applies to all usage greater than 1,020 kWh per quarter. The consumption level of
1,020 kWh for the first block was based on the original retail Maximum Uniform Tariff GD/GR.

The two-part block tariff is targeted to allocating more of the demand-related costs to customers with
larger annual energy consumption. The higher usage rate for the second block provides a pricing
signal to these higher usage customers relating to the increased demand these customers place on
the network at peak times.”

The document then goes on to give about 40 different tariff charge rates depending upon type of customer. It does get very convoluted.

The maximum price I can see for a residential kWh is 36.29 cents – charged during a summer peak period between 2 and 6 pm. The loweswt price per kWh that I spot is 4.6 cents.

My maximum rate is 48.26 c/kWh (for the picturesquely named “Flexi-saver peak rate”), but we don’t use very much of that, thankyou very much.

It’s a shame we can’t get a table of average costs by state and sector, like they do in the USA.

It’s almost like they don’t want us to know this stuff.

The Rev Dodgson said:

It’s almost like they don’t want us to know this stuff.

Even having the document to hand you need to negotiate a byzantinium labyrinth to try to work out what you will be charged.

I had to do it for a commercial customer a few months ago and it was a bit mindblowing :)

I’ve got tabulated (on sheets of paper) records for what I’ve paid for electricity for the business, since we bought it in 1985. I just do a really basic cost of the bill/electricity used. I don’t bother sorting out the various bits. It was unchanged for many, many years, increased a bit, and then increased more with smart meters here in Victoria. I’m not in the practice at the moment, but if I remember, I’ll pull out the info and tell you in this thread.

I’ve never bothered about changing suppliers, either. We are with Origin.

>>>It’s almost like they don’t want us to know this stuff.

Agree, people are getting ripped off left right and center.

buffy said:

I’ve never bothered about changing suppliers, either. We are with Origin.

Is Origin an overseas company?

Don’t Australians also pay significantly more for gas than the people we ship it to across the ocean in great big ships

Cymek said:

Don’t Australians also pay significantly more for gas than the people we ship it to across the ocean in great big ships

in some cases, yes…

I could teach you but I’d have to charge

Apparently closing down that brown coal generator is going to cause the prices to go up. I am thinking that was because they produced electricity cheaply and so kept prices at a basement for the resellers? Without that basement prices shift up to the next cheapest production?

some bloke on Mt Warning got busted trying to steal cheap electricity this morning…

it didn’t end well…

Stumpy_seahorse said:

some bloke on Mt Warning got busted trying to steal cheap electricity this morning…

it didn’t end well…

He had no Warning

The costs will start to mount

I’ll just bump this up, because I remembered to check out my long term records for the practice during last week. 1993 was the first time we had fully itemized electricity accounts, giving proper details. I take the total of the account and divide it by the total kWh listed on the account. I don’t bother about subdividing any further than this, it is adequate for a comparison. From 1993 to 2009 it came out at 0.22/unit. In 2010 a smart meter was fitted and the number started to climb.

2010: 0.24
2011: 0.26
2012: 0.33
2013: 0.38
2014: 0.38
2015: 0.39
2016: 0.39

So in 23 years it has not quite doubled per unit. And basically stable for the past 4 years. Not all that bad, actually.

It’s a business account with Origin. When the Victorian SEC was broken up originally we got put with Origin. I’ve never bothered to change it.

And I just did the same calculation on the home bill (Mr buffy pays that) and it came out at 0.38/unit. That does have a solar feed deduction on it though, which we don’t have at work. So the business electricity is cheaper…

buffy said:

I’ll just bump this up, because I remembered to check out my long term records for the practice during last week. 1993 was the first time we had fully itemized electricity accounts, giving proper details. I take the total of the account and divide it by the total kWh listed on the account. I don’t bother about subdividing any further than this, it is adequate for a comparison. From 1993 to 2009 it came out at 0.22/unit. In 2010 a smart meter was fitted and the number started to climb.

2010: 0.24
2011: 0.26
2012: 0.33
2013: 0.38
2014: 0.38
2015: 0.39
2016: 0.39

So in 23 years it has not quite doubled per unit. And basically stable for the past 4 years. Not all that bad, actually.

It’s a business account with Origin. When the Victorian SEC was broken up originally we got put with Origin. I’ve never bothered to change it.

a 62% increase in 6 years?

poikilotherm said:

buffy said:

I’ll just bump this up, because I remembered to check out my long term records for the practice during last week. 1993 was the first time we had fully itemized electricity accounts, giving proper details. I take the total of the account and divide it by the total kWh listed on the account. I don’t bother about subdividing any further than this, it is adequate for a comparison. From 1993 to 2009 it came out at 0.22/unit. In 2010 a smart meter was fitted and the number started to climb.

2010: 0.24
2011: 0.26
2012: 0.33
2013: 0.38
2014: 0.38
2015: 0.39
2016: 0.39

So in 23 years it has not quite doubled per unit. And basically stable for the past 4 years. Not all that bad, actually.

It’s a business account with Origin. When the Victorian SEC was broken up originally we got put with Origin. I’ve never bothered to change it.

a 62% increase in 6 years?

Apparently that is for paying off the smart meter…

Remarkably stable for ages before that, wasn’t it!

buffy said:

And basically stable for the past 4 years. Not all that bad, actually.

But, but, I thought that nice Mr Abbott was going to save you from destitution by cutting your electricity bills.

buffy said:

And I just did the same calculation on the home bill (Mr buffy pays that) and it came out at 0.38/unit. That does have a solar feed deduction on it though, which we don’t have at work. So the business electricity is cheaper…

That seems very high, even without a solar deduction.