Please select from the list of Frequently Asked Questions below.
As part of a joint Victorian Government and industry initiative, the Victorian Government has mandated that for residential and small business customers, electricity meters are to be replaced with new ones.
The new electricity meter is called a ‘Smart Meter’.
One of the features of the Smart Meter is that it records your electricity usage in a more advanced manner.
One of the benefits of the Smart Meter is that it may, in time, provide you with the ability to monitor your electricity usage in real time. This could help you reduce your electricity usage, possibly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and you could potentially save money on your electricity bills.
The Victorian Government has mandated that all residential and small business electricity customers have a Smart Meter installed by the end of 2013.
Yes. In the same way you pay for your current meter and electricity infrastructure (electricity poles and wires), the costs of supplying and operating the Smart Meter and the supporting infrastructure will be charged and paid for over time, through your electricity charges.
Some retailers are including the charges relating to Smart Meters as a separate line item on customers’ bills and others are bundling the cost and having it appear on customers’ bills as a Supply Charge.
AGL is bundling the cost up for simplicity and referencing the cost as a Supply Charge.
Charges associated with the Smart Meters will be billed in a similar way to how costs are currently billed for other equipment associated with a customer’s electricity supply.
On average, this will mean an extra $68 per annum from 2010 and an additional $8.40 per annum (totalling $76.40 per annum) from 2011.
This is the way that the Victorian Government and Australian Energy Regulator have allowed electricity distributors (the companies that own the poles, wires and meters) to start passing on costs associated with the Smart Meter roll-out.
AGL is passing these cost increases through to customers in the form of a Supply Charge.
Electricity meters, just like poles and wires, are owned by your electricity distributor. In addition to the costs of supplying the Smart Meter to you, the ongoing operation of the supporting infrastructure will be charged to you on an ongoing basis through your electricity bill, as prescribed by the Victorian Government and Energy Regulator.
AGL is passing the Smart Meter costs through to customers as a daily charge, so irrespective of how much energy is consumed, the new Smart Meter related charges are the same.
It’s possible that in the future, a new tariff may be introduced and will apply to you after your new Smart Meter is installed. These new tariffs could be designed to reflect the cost of supplying energy at different times of day. In this scenario, a high consumption customer who uses energy during peak times is likely to pay more for their electricity than a high consumption customer who uses energy during off-peak times.
The Victorian Government has mandated that all residential and small business electricity customers have a Smart Meter installed by the end of 2013.
Your Electricity Distributor (the company that owns the poles, wires and meters) will appoint suitably qualified meter installers, who will be installing Smart Meters.
As your energy retailer, we can’t control when the replacement occurs, but we endeavour to keep you as informed as possible, as information about your installation comes to hand.
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