G'day, it’s Chris and Dan from Amber here.
We’re reaching out to you because from February 1st there are a couple of small changes happening in Victoria’s energy market:
- The Victorian Government updates their Victorian Default Offer, or VDO (their reference price for electricity).
- Your network, who manage the poles and wires in your area, update their electricity supply charges. Not sure who looks after your area? You can check the network for your address here.
To keep things simple, we’re also updating you on a few other adjustments to Amber’s wholesale pricing components - so we can keep passing through these costs to you directly, with no retail markup.
What do these changes mean for you?
Overall, many energy costs are going down this year compared to last year.
Wholesale electricity prices have fallen by 22% over the last year, largely due to the impact of more renewables being built, lower gas prices, and reduced business demand through the COVID-19 pandemic. Because you’ve been getting pass-through wholesale prices, you’ve been seeing the benefit of this reduction, every day.
On the other had, the cost to purchase and surrender environmental certificates to the Clean Energy Regulator has increased slightly this year.
The Essential Services Commission has also approved an average 9% reduction in the per kWh fees that electricity networks can charge for use of the poles and wires to supply power to your home.
These new prices will come into effect from February 1st. Your January bill might include fewer days than normal as we transition from Previous to new prices.
These wholesale costs differ based on your network. They're different because the networks are independent of each other - they set fees based on the cost to manage the poles and wires in their distribution area.
For an average customer on an Anytime tariff in your area using 4,000 kWh per annum we estimate these pricing updates will impact the fixed price component of your total annual bills by the following amounts:
- CitiPower: $13.84
- Powercor: -$11.82
- Jemena: -$2.00
- AusNet: $13.18
- United: -$24.92
For an average customer with a controlled load tariff in your area using 6,000 kWh per annum we estimate these pricing updates will impact the fixed price component of your total annual bills by the following amounts:
- CitiPower: $34.73
- Powercor: $2.90
- Jemena: $29.58
- AusNet: $30.75
- United: -$11.95
(These are just indicators, as your bills will vary based on your household’s energy consumption and wholesale prices at the times when you used power.)
Note that this estimate doesn't include the 22% average reduction in the price of energy in the wholesale market over the last year. We pass through the cheaper wholesale market price of energy directly to you.
Changes to wholesale costs of delivery
There are a few different parties we must pay to get power to your property.
- Your local electricity network. They maintain the poles and wires in your area, and make sure you get a continuous supply of power. They also own the meters in your area and so we need to pay them to access your meter data.
- The energy market operator. All energy providers must pay fees to buy power from the NEM (the National Electricity Market).
- The government. All energy providers need to pay fees to fund the Government’s Renewable Energy Target and various energy efficiency programs.
These parties typically adjust their fees annually, and we pass through the adjusted fees to you with no additional markup.
Real-time Wholesale Usage Charges (¢/kWh)
These costs make up part of the real-time wholesale price you see in the Amber app. You can check a recent bill to see which of these costs are relevant to your current tariff and Amber plan. Only costs that are changing on February 1st are listed here.
