Just after I read Stephen Tamplin’s letter (Central Western Daily, December 8) regarding electricity prices and his conclusion – “now I know for certain we are being ripped off” – a friend of mine approached me with a flyer from AGL offering all sorts of goodies if he switched over to AGL.
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The offer was made to those holding a seniors card. My friend asked me what I thought of the offer. Given Stephen Tamplin’s experience, I decided to look into the offer more closely.
I am very pleased I did.
The offer is subject to a number of significant exclusions – all contained in very small print at the bottom of the offer.
AGL’s offer starts off “get one month’s worth of fee electricity and gas”. Then further down it goes on to state this will be “in the 12th month of your plan”.
Consumers should be able to make comparisons between companies quickly and easily so that they can make a proper and informed decision as to which company offers value for money.
The small print at the very bottom explains that this offer only applies to the “last 30 days” of your plan. In other words: you have to stick with AGL for at least 12 months to get the one month’s fee electricity and gas. None of this “get your first month free”.
Then the offer goes on to boast, “plus, get 26 per cent off electricity usage charges and 21 per cent off gas usage charges for paying on time”.
Now, as I found out, both electricity and gas bills have two components: a “usage” charge calculated in cents per kilowatt hour, and a “supply” charge calculated in cents per day.
The small print at the very bottom of the page stipulates that the AGL discount does not apply to the “supply” charge.
I then decided to try and find out if my friend would be better off switching from his current supplier, Origin, to AGL by comparing the “usage” and “supply” charges offered by both companies.
I had my friend’s current electricity and gas bills from Origin so I knew what Origin was charging him. I then contacted AGL to find out if its rates were comparable. Well, that wasn’t as easily done as I thought it would be.
AGL have this convoluted system where you go online, a representative chats to you online to ask what your query is, you provide the answer and then this person continues to ask you seemingly meaningless questions which you respond to.
Then this representative passes you on to a member of the sales team, who then wants to chat to you online.
Despite being treated like an idiot (and wasting my time), I almost gave up in frustration, but I decided to hang in there.
The upshot was that it was difficult to make an accurate comparison in relation to the “usage” charges for both electricity and gas, as each company has a different system of charging.
But, in relation to the “supply” charge, AGL was dearer by 10 cents a day for electricity, and seven-plus cents a day for gas. And, of course, AGL’s great offer does not apply to the “supply” charge.
What did I learn from this interesting exercise? First, AGL did not seem keen to disclose to me its “usage” and “supply” charges. Second, energy suppliers are treating their users like mugs. There is clearly a lack of full transparency.
Consumers should be able to make comparisons between companies quickly and easily so that they can make a proper and informed decision as to which company offers value for money.
Bill Walsh
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