Households face buying $600 smart meter to avoid electricity 'bill shock'

Date
    March 8, 2016
    Sydney Morning Herald

More than 130,000 NSW households face paying up to $600 to install new electricity smart meters or negotiating to have them included in new contracts to avoid a spike in their power bills at the end of 2016.   :-?

The looming "bill shock" is due to the closure of the solar bonus scheme, under which households with solar panels can sell electricity back to the grid at a rate of either 60¢ or 20¢ per kilowatt hour.

From December 31, that amount is set to plummet to 6¢ per kilowatt hour as the scheme is drawn to a close as planned.

This leaves the households potentially selling electricity to the grid for 6¢ per kilowatt hour but being forced to buy it from their retailer for as much as 30¢.


To combat this, the NSW government is introducing new laws to make it easier for retailers to offer households smart meters, which allow monitoring of electricity flows to and from the network.

Smart meters are required for customers to switch from gross metering – the current situation – to net metering, so they can potentially power their households with solar panels and sell any excess back to the grid.

The government's bill will expand the number of contractors able to be trained to install smart meters in NSW from about 2,000 now to as many as 35,000.

But the NSW Greens say the solution is flawed, as the government estimates each smart meter could cost up to $600.   :(

Alternatively, if retailers cover the cost of the meter they could force households into new, long-term contracts.

They also say that in briefings, energy minister Anthony Roberts' advisers estimate that only 80,000 households will switch to smart meters, still leaving 50,000 to suffer "bill shock". 

"People installed solar panels in good faith with the incentive of a feed-in tariff, and did not expect, nor deserve this nasty sting in the tail," said Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham.

"The government should require retailers to install net meters and not leave it to the market knowing that tens of thousands of households will be ripped off."   :(

Mr Roberts said the government had opted for a voluntary, market-led roll out of smart meters as opposed to the mandatory system introduced by the Victorian government.

"Our policy of a market-led rollout will ensure households and businesses are free to choose whether they want a smart meter and the best retail offer that suits their needs," he said.

"The legislation will ensure that smart meters can be rolled out to Solar Bonus Scheme customers efficiently and in line with the state's existing safety guidelines.

"This will help drive competition and better deals as retailers compete for the state's customers."

anyone who thought that solar cell feedin tariffs would remain higher than normal tarifs forever was an idiot. It was always unsustainable and always going to end up dumped. get solar if you can justify it for your own use and treat any feed-in tariff as a bonus and nothign else.

Another reason why small scale rooftop solar is an expensive white elephant.

oh shucks.. ::) ::)

maybe all these panic merchants about climate change should do without electricity all together..

it appears to be the main cause of the icecaps melting..so why not?..

come on lefties switch it orf....do without.

makes sense to me.

This leaves the households potentially selling electricity to the grid for 6¢ per kilowatt hour but being forced to buy it from their retailer for as much as 30¢.

Can I get a hip hip hooray for privatisation .

freediver wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 10:18am:

Another reason why small scale rooftop solar is an expensive white elephant.

Well another Howard program fail then...since it was first set up by them. 

78 million dollars worth of meters , now I wonder how many Libs have their finger in that pie  ::)

Its time wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 12:00pm:

78 million dollars worth of meters , now I wonder how many Libs have their finger in that pie  ::)

....you'd be buying most of your own stuff from Libs as well..... :D so don't choke on your cabbage.

Swagman wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 12:33pm:

you'd be buying most of your own stuff from Libs as well.....

How could that be?  Haven't they sold most of it already?

longweekend58 wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 10:11am:

anyone who thought that solar cell feedin tariffs would remain higher than normal tarifs forever was an idiot. It was always unsustainable and always going to end up dumped. get solar if you can justify it for your own use and treat any feed-in tariff as a bonus and nothign else.

and you reckon 6 cents a kwh is a great deal for a feedin when the retail value of energy supply is 25 cents per kwh ? You must be completely daft to believe that is a good deal. It's tantamount to theft of energy from gullible consumers :(

Its time wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 12:00pm:

78 million dollars worth of meters , now I wonder how many Libs have their finger in that pie  ::)

Those meters are made in India for 5 bucks each. Some scumbag is laughing all of the way to the bank at the consumers expense :(

Sounds fair to me. 25c retail for reliable electricity. 6c wholesale for electricity that comes and goes whenever a cloud passes overhead. And the electricity company provides all the resources to manage the transaction.

Try taking some low quality home grown veges into woolies and see if they will pay you 20% of the retail price for them.

wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 6:19am:

To combat this, the NSW government is introducing new laws to make it easier for retailers to offer households smart meters, which allow monitoring of electricity flows to and from the network. Smart meters are required for customers to switch from gross metering – the current situation – to net metering, so they can potentially power their households with solar panels and sell any excess back to the grid.

This made no difference in Victoria. Electricity prices just keep increasing contrary to the claims of these meters :(

The truth of the matter is the existing mechanical meters are perfectly OK but the reason why they want to get rid of them is because they give parity on any feedins to the grid and greed incorporated just doesn't like that for obvious reasons when they only want to offer a measly 6 cents a kwh :(

freediver wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 1:58pm:

Sounds fair to me. 25c retail for reliable electricity. 6c wholesale for electricity that comes and goes whenever a cloud passes overhead. And the electricity company provides all the resources to manage the transaction. Try taking some low quality home grown veges into woolies and see if they will pay you 20% of the retail price for them.

So why don't they make the feedin parity and itemize their so called maintenance and service fees and put that on the bill to be deducted from the net feedin instead of stealing energy from the consumer ?

And those resources were owned by the public. We paid for all of this along time ago. It should never have been sold to private scam artists who are only in it to maximize their profits :(

Quote:

So why don't they make the feedin parity and itemize their so called maintenance and service fees and put that on the bill to be deducted from the net feedin instead of stealing energy from the consumer ?

It is a heavily regulated industry. They probably aren't allowed to. Poor people might not be able to afford the connection fee. It would be a whole different ball game if you had to negotiate with the electricity companies to get them to connect you in the first place, like you have to with phones etc. The sense of entitlement would go straight out the window.


Quote:

And those resources were owned by the public. We paid for all of this along time ago. It should never have been sold to private scam artists who are only in it to maximize their profits

Are you a communist? I don't think the intention was ever to give people free electricity. Do you think we were paying for them twice over when the government sent you the bill?

freediver wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 2:17pm:

Quote: And those resources were owned by the public. We paid for all of this along time ago. It should never have been sold to private scam artists who are only in it to maximize their profits Are you a communist? I don't think the intention was ever to give people free electricity.

Unless those "people" are privatised power companies...

Its time wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 11:19am:

This leaves the households potentially selling electricity to the grid for 6¢ per kilowatt hour but being forced to buy it from their retailer for as much as 30¢. Can I get a hip hip hooray for privatisation .

All this does is reduce the ROI for batteries to a level where they make it feasible to go off-grid altogether.

It may get to a point where the power companies have to offer 15c just to entice people to stay on grid.

Bam wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 4:30pm:

Its time wrote on Mar 12th, 2016 at 11:19am: This leaves the households potentially selling electricity to the grid for 6¢ per kilowatt hour but being forced to buy it from their retailer for as much as 30¢. Can I get a hip hip hooray for privatisation . All this does is reduce the ROI for batteries to a level where they make it feasible to go off-grid altogether. It may get to a point where the power companies have to offer 15c just to entice people to stay on grid.

When prices come down to a level where its worth the investment

Looking at solar to run home air conditioning.... no connection to the grid.... cuts your bill without all the shenanigans.  If I could I'd happily go stand-alone.

freediver wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 2:17pm:

Quote: So why don't they make the feedin parity and itemize their so called maintenance and service fees and put that on the bill to be deducted from the net feedin instead of stealing energy from the consumer ? It is a heavily regulated industry. They probably aren't allowed to. Poor people might not be able to afford the connection fee. It would be a whole different ball game if you had to negotiate with the electricity companies to get them to connect you in the first place, like you have to with phones etc. The sense of entitlement would go straight out the window. [quote]And those resources were owned by the public. We paid for all of this along time ago. It should never have been sold to private scam artists who are only in it to maximize their profits

Are you a communist? I don't think the intention was ever to give people free electricity. Do you think we were paying for them twice over when the government sent you the bill?[/quote]

Nobody is asking for free anything but what actually was the problem that pollies were trying to solve by privatising electricity assets that were essentially owned by the public ?

What have they achieved by doing this ? What is the payoff to the public other than rising electricity bills and brain dead people knocking at your door offering imaginary discounts to your power bill ?

And what was the payoff in replacing otherwise perfectly working meters with dumb meters ? I just don't get it !!

Sir lastnail wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 1:56pm:

longweekend58 wrote on Mar 12th, 2016 at 10:11am: anyone who thought that solar cell feedin tariffs would remain higher than normal tarifs forever was an idiot. It was always unsustainable and always going to end up dumped. get solar if you can justify it for your own use and treat any feed-in tariff as a bonus and nothign else. and you reckon 6 cents a kwh is a great deal for a feedin when the retail value of energy supply is 25 cents per kwh ? You must be completely daft to believe that is a good deal. It's tantamount to theft of energy from gullible consumers :(

I know you are stupid enough to not realise that the electricity network is NOT FREE. that is why you think getting paid a wholesale amount (6c) is bad when the retail amount is higher.

You dont understand evconomic fundamentals. no wonder your startup never got off the ground. you are an ignorant idiot.

Sir lastnail wrote on Mar 12^th, 2016 at 2:12pm:

freediver wrote on Mar 12th, 2016 at 1:58pm: Sounds fair to me. 25c retail for reliable electricity. 6c wholesale for electricity that comes and goes whenever a cloud passes overhead. And the electricity company provides all the resources to manage the transaction. Try taking some low quality home grown veges into woolies and see if they will pay you 20% of the retail price for them. So why don't they make the feedin parity and itemize their so called maintenance and service fees and put that on the bill to be deducted from the net feedin instead of stealing energy from the consumer ? And those resources were owned by the public. We paid for all of this along time ago. It should never have been sold to private scam artists who are only in it to maximize their profits :(

they do. their maintenance and access costs are 24c/kw/hr.  why do u think it is free?