Keep your energy consumption under control through the Festive Season with these practical tips and tricks from Bill Hero and Energy Coach
Victorian Feed-in tariffs are going down, again. That's an unavoidable market reality that does make sense, but the regulator's argument on the rationale for solar does not.
The AER's new 'Game Changer Reforms' to protect vulnerable retail energy consumers are a welcome step, but they do not go far enough.
Demand tariffs are a relatively new form of tariff intended to reward energy consumers who avoid contributing to peak network loads, and penalise that do.
Our energy transmission and distribution networks are hugely expensive to build and maintain, but they're underutilised nearly all the time, because they need to accommodate very high peak load events - such as those heatwave days in summer when lots of air conditioners generate lots of demand all at once - which occur only once or twice a year.
If the grid were built to a lower capacity, it would become unstable, requiring 'load shedding', and consumers would experience power outages during those high demand times.
Building out the infrastructure to support this peak demand is very expensive, and all the costs land in our bills, so it makes sense to find ways to minimise those peak loads, and to apportion costs more toward those whose behaviour as energy consumers is driving those peak loads, and reward those whose behaviour helps minimise those peaks.
In Australia over the past decade years, we've seen steady reduction in overall electricity demand network-wide, but peak demand has continued to grow. Shaving peak demand down even a little bit can translate into significant savings at the aggregate level, and demand tariffs are one of the ways this can be achieved.
Demand tariffs are intended to deliver a 'price signal' to encourage individual consumers to spread out their peak time consumption and avoid intense usage spikes by shifting consumption out of peak times and into shoulder and off-peak times. The price signal has two parts: a reward of cheaper rates per kWh, and a punishment of a demand charge that can be incurred if you do create high peak load, even for a single moment in a billing period.
A demand tariff requires a smart meter. The tariff includes electricity usage and supply charges same as any other tariff, and also includes an additional fee called a ‘demand’ or ‘capacity’ charge. The demand charge is a charge per kWh that may be applied based on your maximum usage during any 'peak' times over the course a billing period.
The structure of the demand change differs across the electricity distribution zones. Demand tariffs may be applied only if your usage exceeds a demand threshold at any time in a billing period, or they may always be present, but scale according to your maximum peak demand in a billing period. Demand charges per kWh are applied to every kWh consumed across the entire billing period, or a daily demand charge penalty rate may be applied for every day in the billing period. So you only need to over-consume once to pay penalty fees over an entire billing period.
Demand tariffs are different to how most of us are used to paying for electricity. If you have good knowledge of your electricity consumption patterns, and also have the willingness and ability to monitor and modify your usage, then a demand tariff could save you money. If not, it could cost you a lot more.
Under a single-rate tariff structure, both households would pay the same amount since they both used the same amount of electricity over the billing period.
Under a demand tariff, Household B will pay a higher demand charge relating to the intensity of the load their 24 heaters placed on the grid all at once.
Demand charge is applied on top of the familiar per-kWh usage charges, and is calculated on your highest level of consumption measured during the 'demand window', which is typically between 3pm and 9pm.
The main direct benefit to individual consumers of demand tariffs is that the usage rates under demand tariffs should be lower than usage rates on a single rate tariff. If you're careful about managing your peak demand, you could pay less under this kind of tariff.
There is risk in being on a demand tariff, and they are suitable only for households where there is good understanding of demand patterns, and solid ability to manage that demand.
Demand tariffs can be punishing for households that take their eye off the ball and let their electricity usage spike for even a single moment, so they'll pay a price penalty for the entire billing period.
It's possible that a demand tariff may save you money, but it will require you to stay vigilant in keeping an eye on your power usage to avoid spikes, and adopting efficient energy usage practices.
Typically this means both minimising your overall usage of appliances during peak times, and also minimising the intensity of your usage in peak times. You can achieve this by time-shifting your usage - eg by running dishwasher and washing machines at night, and by daisy-chaining your peak usage so that you avoid running multiple appliances at the same time.
In Australia, the electricity distributors are now progressively moving customers onto demand tariffs. The roll out approach varies by state and distribution zone, as does the detailed structure of the demand tariff.
Depending on your location, demand charges will be applied:
The demand rate can change by season
Since 1 July 2019, demand tariffs have been assigned by default for:
Demand (introductory) tariffs are intended to allow customers to better understand their patterns of usage for 12 months, before they will be automatically assigned to the default demand tariff. Customers assigned to the demand (introductory) tariff have the option to be reassigned to another demand tariff, or to a TOU tariff.
A new TOU-demand and existing TOU tariffs are available for customers who opt-out of a demand tariff. TOU customers replacing meter for any reason will remain on TOU tariffs, and can opt-in to demand tariffs.
Flat tariffs are no longer available to new connections.
Demand Structure and Charge Window
The demand element is based on the maximum energy consumption recorded in any 30-minute period within the defined seasonal demand window on a working weekday in each billing period (measured in kW). The resulting demand charge applies for each day in the billing period (before being reset for the next month).
The demand window for measuring the maximum demand is aligned with a corresponding TOU peak energy window. In seasons where there is no peak energy on working weekdays, a summer window of 2-8 pm applies.
More information is available in Ausgrid's Demand Tariff Q&A and Fact Sheet documents.
Endeavour Energy is introducing both a transitional demand tariff and a ‘cost reflective’ demand tariff intended to provide flexibility for customers to select the pace of their transition.
The transitional demand tariff will become the default tariff for all new customers and those existing customers with the required metering who upgrade their network connection to three-phase or fro bi-directional flow of electricity after installing solar. Customers assigned to the transitional demand tariff will have the option to opt-out to the flat energy based tariff or the seasonal time of use tariff.
The cost reflective demand tariff will be available to all customers on an opt-in basis subject to metering requirements.
Endeavour’s demand tariffs consist of three tariff parameters: a seasonal maximum monthly demand charge, a flat energy charge and a fixed charge.
Essential Energy’s demand tariffs are available on an opt-in basis for customers who have an interval or smart meter.
Each Essential Energy network tariff is made up of one or more of the following components:
See Essential Energy demand tariff brochure for additional information.
Demand tariffs are available on an opt-in and opt-out basis for residential customers with consumption less than 60 mWh per annum, or peak demand less than 120 kW.
Demand is based on the maximum demand (kW) in each month that is recorded between 3pm and 9pm on work days with no minimum chargeable demand level (except in the United Energy zone where a minimum monthly chargeable demand of 1.5kW applies).
Residential customers can move to a demand tariff on an opt-in basis provided they have the appropriate metering technology.
Demand charges for residential customers are based on the maximum demand in any half-hour trading interval since the last meter read:
If a retailer does not specify its preferred network tariff for a new customer, Energex will assign the customer to the Residential Transitional Demand tariff.
If a customer classification is not received from the retailer for move-in small customers, the retail customer moving-in to the existing premises will inherit the existing customer classification and existing network tariff. Move-in customers are not considered as a new customer to Energex, as these customers are not a new connection to the distribution network.
Energex will initiate network tariff reassignment of customers in the following instances:
Demand charges for residential customers are calculated as a $/kVA/month or $/kW/month, for demand recorded at a connection point. These charges are applied to the maximum half hourly kW power reading that occurred at a connection point during either:
The data present in your bill is specific to the tariff type you are on. Bill Hero does not compare between tariffs, and so will not recommend a demand tariff option for subscribers who are not already on a demand tariff.
If you are already on a demand tariff Bill Hero will compare the final price in your demand tariff bill with what you would have been charged under a non-demand time-of-use tariff.
If your demand tariff bill does not display a demand charge line item at all, or if that item is $0, this indicates that you did not cross your demand threshold for that billing period, and no demand charge was applied to this bill.
If your bill includes a demand or capacity charge line item, then Bill Hero will add the $ value for that demand charge component to the peak rate charge. This accurately reflects the effective price you were charged for your peak consumption under that demand tariff.
In both cases, Bill Hero will then compare your bill against all the competing time of use plans, and the results will show you what you would have paid for that same usage under all the regular ToU tariff plans, and illustrate how your demand tariff bill ranks against those alternatives.
In theory, if you are on a demand tariff, your time of use rates and your final bill price should be lower than the price you'd pay under competing ToU plans for the same kWh usage.
If your demand tariff bill comes in at a higher price than an alternative time of use plan, then this is an indication that your demand tariff plan may not a good deal, since not only are you paying more than you need to, you're also accepting the risk of price increase should you ever cross your demand threshold, and you should consider changing to a regular ToU tariff.
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