electricity bill payment plans

milo · Guru

electricity bill payment plans

Happywanderer · The Master

Yes milo. Its called easipay. Used it for years when down in Victloria.
They will work out a figure for you to pay every fortnight on your payday.
They will send you a card and you can go pay it at Aus Post. The card looks like a credit card and can only be used for paying your power at AusPost.
Or you can make those payments online or arrange for Centrelink to take it out each fortnight and pay it for you. I used the online method.
Once a year on the anniversary they will send you a letter with a revised amount and you start paying that figure for the next year.
I was with Origin Energy. Not sure who you are with but the details should be similiar.

milo · Guru

hmm sounds interesting

im with intergral / origen ...

i will also take the auto online payment if i can

Happywanderer · The Master

With Origin they sent me a letter with the amount. Each payday I went online when I paid my other accounts, and paid my Origin, the amount they specified. They will probably still send you the card out. I always received mine but never used it.

Sheba · Guru

I'm with Ergon in Qld. Milo. A few years ago, I just went in to Centrelink, and organised with them for set amounts to be deducted from my Pension, and paid to Ergon for the Power, and also Council Rates. I usually have to pay a little extra for Electricity, but for the last 2 years, when the Rates come around, I've been in Credit, so nothing to more pay.

Much easier that way. No huge lump sums to find in one hit.

Cheers,

Sheba.

milo · Guru

so worth looking into??

Sheba · Guru

Makes it much simpler for me Milo. It's gone before I get the balance of the Pension. I don't like Direct Debit, so this works well for me.

Cheers,

Sheba.

BohemianGypsy · Guru

Yes Milo very worth looking into. I have been using it for years now. I have it taken from my account directly each fortnight and the bill is automatically paid when it comes in. I love it especially as our bill is always huge. Saves us a lot of stress worrying about how we are going to manage such a big bill.

Michelle

milo · Guru

mine is a huge one for the first time in ages, plus being winter and all and using dryers n such

Rip and Rosie · Guru

Like everyone, we pay the electricity bill in small regular bits.
We have been doing all we can to reduce our electricity usage.
We only heat one room at a time, and close doors, use draft excluders etc and curtains on all windows.
We only wash full loads, very rarely use the dryer, reduce the use of the oven in cooking.
Got rid of the second fridge.
Traditional light globes have been replaced with the power saver ones ages ago.
Made sure our insulation was renewed as it was over 10 years old in the roof, and added underfloor bats as well.
I still have to master turning everything off standby and switch the appliances off at the wall, but I'm trying.

Happywanderer · The Master

Something I should have mentioned in my first post milo. I see you are saying this bill is a huge one and will be difficult to pay.
If you go with the easi pay method, you wont have to pay that huge bill now, it will be included in your fortnightly payments. Therefore taking that strain off you wallet.

Happywanderer · The Master

Go out and buy yourself a couple of clothes racks. You can get them for less than 10.00 each. Don't use that drier. Even when I lived down in Victoria I didn't need one. I had the clothes rack set up all the time in a spare area.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

I pay about $160 per month on a plan, which they adjust every quarter by looking at my usage and averaging it out. Been doing it this way for years. Some quarters they take it down a bit, and sometimes it goes up a bit, but its never far off.

-- Edited by Rip and Rosie on Wednesday 22nd of August 2012 05:09:33 PM

Rip and Rosie · Guru

Yes, Marj, we too have the clothes airing regularly. I try to get the washing our early to catch the sunshine, but when that doesn't work they go under the verandah roof or in the spare room. its a great idea to save some pennies.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

Rip and Rosie wrote:
I pay about $160 per month on a plan, which they adjust every quarter by looking at my usage and averaging it out. Been doing it this way for years. Some quarters they take it down a bit, and sometimes it goes up a bit, but its never far off.

We don't have gas, so heating, hot water and cooking is electricity, and the electricity is the total power bill. The bills are monthly- I would have apoplexy if I had to pay a huge amount every 3 months like I used to years back. it's easier to find a regular amount every month.

-- Edited by Rip and Rosie on Wednesday 22nd of August 2012 06:38:09 PM

milo · Guru

normaly my bill is around the $300 ish but this time its over $400ish , i wonder how they work the paymets out?
I know its been winter and all ,used the dryer alot this year, but hopefully with summer might be able to avoid that
wonder which plan i should go on 6 or 12 months?

Happywanderer · The Master

Go on 12 months and keep it going permanent. Then they work out your power bills for the year and divide it back to fortnightly payments. So when summer comes around and you bill won't be so high, it will even itself out.

Clare46 · Senior Member

milo wrote:
normaly my bill is around the $300 ish but this time its over $400ish , i wonder how they work the paymets out?
I know its been winter and all ,used the dryer alot this year, but hopefully with summer might be able to avoid that
wonder which plan i should go on 6 or 12 months?

Golly Milo that seems a lot for one person. My bill over the winter months is usually about $170 for electricity and $50 for gas for hot water and cooking. I am one person and am with AGL. I use my air con. and use the drier all the time as my clothes line does not get winter sun and I hate wet clothes hanging around inside.

BohemianGypsy · Guru

Gosh I pay $150 per fortnight on my plan because our bills are always high, but mainly during the winter months. I have an electric heater on all the time out here in the office, the gas heater goes most of the time in the loungeroom with the fan running on electricity in the heater. We have got saver lights in every socket. It is my biggest bill the rest are nominal thank goodness.

Michelle

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Areeeee, so it's your fault Michelle we now have carbon tax hey.

milo · Guru

so how often do they come now? ec bills i mean

milo · Guru

every thing is electricity, except for the gas heater in my lounge
but i have used the dryer alot this winter

Esmeralda · Guru

I am a single and my quarterly winter electricity bill is around $280 and summer around $170 - all electric and I use the drier a fair amount of time.

tonyd · Guru

Gee, Michelle, what state do you live in? You power bill is $3900 a year! Here in Perth our bill averages about $200 for two months, and is often much less. Two adults in a big house, two TVs, electric oven, lots of lights on. We do have gas water heating and gas heaters.

Cheers, Tony

Rip and Rosie · Guru

Heating and hot water add heaps to the energy bill, so to really compare we would need to add electricity and gas bills together.
The total energy bill would be what it costs to service the whole home- cooking, lighting, water heating, power and general heating etc. If you have solar and actually get a rebate, then that has to be calculated as well.
Otherwise we are not comparing apples with apples.

-- Edited by Rip and Rosie on Sunday 26th of August 2012 09:37:35 AM

Clare46 · Senior Member

My bill comes every 3 months so it totals up to about $230 for the period. That is over the winter for gas and electricity so I think I'm doing well compared to some of the others. As i said previosly I don't hesitate to use my aircon. and I use the dryer all the time in winter.

Ellice · Senior Member

We also pay the electricity bill in small regular bits, pluss we can get a plan if we wish. Even though our stove is gas our power is not cheap...

milo · Guru

Hi guys I got the $67 p fortnight payment plan happening now,
one less bill to worry about , thanks for all your help , as usual!!

much appreciated