If you’re worried about the rising electricity bills, you are not alone. Many across the globe are concerned about the increasing energy bills. In the last three years since the pandemic hit the world, major economies are witnessing an excessive rise in fuel prices, adding to the misery the standoff between Ukraine and Russia is driving the fuel prices further. Gas, Coal, and electricity prices have risen to record levels in the last decades. Since most of the electricity is generated using fossil fuels, our energy bills are moving the same slope. The good thing is that you can still choose the Best Electricity Provider.
The extent of Price Increases
The extent of price increase is enormous in Australia. To give you a view, the price hike for electricity is around 72% and 54% for gas in the past ten years. The pattern of the total price hike has been different across states and territories. It is 30% in Perth, 73% in Brisbane, 41% in Adelaide and 107% in Sydney. As you can see, the price hike is not common all across Australia.
Other than the rising fuel prices, other factors contribute to the increasing fuel prices, some of them are as follows:
- Retail Margins- There is no doubt that the maintenance and installation of the delivery network line is expensive. But in recent years, the retail margins have increased a lot. It is estimated that retailers’ costs made up about 25 per cent of the total bill. Still, you can choose the Best Electricity Provider.
- Shift to Renewable is Slow- Most of the energy that comes to our home comes from the Coal-fired power stations. There is no doubt that we are moving to renewable alternatives, but the transition is quite slow. Also, the supply network is not built to handle too many renewable energy sources.
- COVID-19 Driving the Demand- Due to the ongoing pandemic, many of us were forced to stay at our homes, leading to a 15% to 20% increase in overall consumption. This further drove the electricity prices higher than usual.
Rising fuel prices are not in our control, but we can limit our fuel prices by following steps:
- Decrease Consumption- This is no rocket science; if you can limit your electricity usage then you can limit your bill too. This is quite obvious. Still, we tend to leave devices on when they are not in use.
- Tariff Charge- Tariff is the total charge that a consumer has to pay for consuming electricity through the month. You can go for smart meters that calculate costs at different rates at different times of the day.
- Appliances Efficiency- If you go out in the market and look for electronic devices, you will find energy rated devices. You can drastically reduce the total bill by upgrading to modern energy rated devices.
- Plan Type and Provider- In Australia, there are many providers; you have the flexibility to choose the providers that offer energy at affordable rates. To save on utility prices, you can switch providers.
Final Words
As we can see that when it comes to energy prices there are many factors that are in our control and there are many that are not. We can reduce our bills by factoring in the options that are in our hands primarily being the option to choose the best place to compare energy prices in your locality.