BILL BLOWOUT: Excessive power bills hit Douglas residents hard

POWER BILL STRUGGLE

David Gardiner

Journalist

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Electricity bills received by Douglas residents have dramatically spiked, leaving householders wondering how they’ll be able to pay them. Pic: Submitted

Customers of Ergon Energy in Douglas Shire have been unpleasantly surprised to receive power bills drastically higher than they’ve ever seen before, with many wondering how they’re going to pay them during an already severe cost of living crisis.

Bills have come in hundreds of dollars or more above what they had been the previous quarter. 

John Burnett, who lives in a Port Douglas unit on his own, was shocked when he received his latest power bill (excerpts pictured below) for the January-March quarter, for more than $2,600.

“Please note that on the March bill showing $1664.25 owing, that I already had a credit of $945.92 due to my fortnightly payments between Dec 23 and Mar 24 and other credits, so the bill for the quarter was actually a whopping $2610.17!” he wrote in an email to Newsport.

During a later chat, he told us that he has heard from several others in his block of units – and they told him they have also received extraordinarily high power bills. 

None were prepared, or had budgeted for, such unexpected high amounts.

“I mean I’m on a fixed income, it’s a good amount, a decent amount, but I just wonder about people like single mothers, or people who have children, or people who’re on a very low pension, how are they making ends meet with this?” he said. 

Meters not read – usage ‘estimated’

Mr Burnett called Ergon to find out why he received such a dramatic spike in his power bill.

He said Ergon “admitted” they had not physically read the meter in December for the previous quarter, possible due to Cyclone Jasper (although Ergon did not say this to him) and hence his usage and bill were grossly underestimated.

On that previous bill, Ergon states: “This premises has a basic meter. This bill is based on an estimate of your usage. You can request an adjusted bill based on your own read with a new due date for payment.”

He said while he knew electricity prices have increased in the past year, his usage of high energy appliances like air-conditioners has not been any higher than previous summer months, and he hasn’t added any new power consuming items in his unit.

Bill ‘smoothing’

Although Mr Burnett said he had been paying $84 every fortnight for a long time – to help lessen the blow of being hit with a large, budget-blowing payment when the bill did arrive – he still didn’t expect such a massive amount. 

“I use bill ‘smoothing’, so what it’s done is it’s taken the price from six months ago and carried it across that peak period,” he said. 

“So I’ve been paying it regularly but obviously the usage has been more and also if the usage has been more, it didn’t catch up in the quarter and all of a sudden, six months of power usage has been applied to the bill in one go.”

He said the bill smoothing system needs to be refined so that it is readjusted every quarter rather than every six months. 

Regular payments now much higher

After his latest, eye-watering bill he asked Ergon to readjust the amount, and told Newsport that the new regular payment is so much higher that what he was used to, he will have to make living adjustments. 

“I asked them to read just the fortnightly amount to ensure that future payments are sufficient and also to pay off the debt within six months,” he said. 

“They were very obliging and made the necessary calculations quickly. 

“But my fortnightly bill is now $251 per fortnight - an increase of 198.9% on the previous $84!  

“I think that part of the reason for such a huge increase was that there should have probably been a read adjustment in the last quarter – but because they did it virtually, they just assumed I’d used the same electricity as the quarter before.”

We have put several questions to Ergon Energy about the power bill spikes in Douglas and expect to hear back from them in the next day or so.

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