COTA SA's Climate Change Group is passionate about the actions that individuals can take, big or small, that helps to care for the planet. One of these actions is sharing stories and finding reliable sources of information that are balanced and easy to understand. Our Climate Change Group members will share stories and information that they find useful with the hope that you will find it useful too! Today, cost of living is a significant issue of concern right now and a recent Government report says that many people in Australia are on an electricity tariff which costs them more than is necessary.

Some of the findings in that report are startling:

• The proportion of residential customers on flat rate plans with prices at or above the Default Market Offer amounted to 73% on plans older than 3 years, 42% for plans between 2 and 3 years old and even 28% of customers on plans which were between 1 and 2 years old. Loyalty clearly doesn’t pay.
• Some electricity retailers have caused confusion by using the same name for a new market offer but subsequently offer a different tariff under the same name. It’s not immediately clear to the energy consumer that the tariff has changed.

As a starting point to see whether you might be able to save money, your electricity bill will have a statement as to whether the energy retailer has an alternative tariff which would cost you less.

To check whether there are any other tariffs which are better for you, access the Federal Government’s comparison website www.energymadeeasy.gov.au. The site will ask for your National Meter Identifier (NMI) which you can find on your electricity bill. It should be on the first page of the bill, near the top. The website will work out which are likely to be the best tariffs for you.

The comparison process is relatively straightforward for flat rate plans. However, for energy consumers with smart meters, the comparison process may be harder. It’s not just the tariff which is relevant but also the time of day when electricity is consumed and the applicable tariff at that time.

Once you've compared, then contact your energy retailer. It's a good idea for energy consumers to contacts their energy retailer at least once a year to check whether there is a cheaper plan. The process of moving to another energy retailer, if necessary, is now much simpler than in the past, so need not be a barrier to changing over.

If you have questions, or want to chat about this topic, contact the COTA SA Climate Change Group via the COTA SA reception desk on 08 8232 0422 or email cotasa@cotasa.org.au.