The BULB aims to inform and inspire - a platform for ongoing education and support to community services workers, volunteers and the wider community. This publication is from ConnectEd - Keeping people connected to energy, water and communications.
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Announcing: ConnectEd.org.au
The shiny new ConnectEd website has gone live! Have a look, and use the Contact Us function to let us know how good it is.*
The ConnectEd website enables us to make the information and resources about utilities that we present in face-to-face events available online. In the LEARN section, you can check the difference between standard and market contracts, or read an explanation of "D-FiTs" and "R-FiTs". In the EVENTS section, you can see what public ConnectEd community events are coming up, or you can book in to some training. The NEWS section will bring you new developments, and there is a link on the home page to our newsletter the BULB, full of the latest news on energy, water and telecommunications.
* you can also tell us what needs improvement, but please be gentle!
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Free Home Energy Visits
ConnectEd has experienced Energy Workers who can provide community members with home energy audits and give tailored energy advice.
Clients need to be referred to this FREE service via ConnectEd staff, so if you know someone who needs help with their household energy costs, send an email to: ConnectEd@unitingcommunities.org. If you have attended ConnectEd community information sessions you are also eligible.
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June Training for community workers
Do you have clients who struggle with electricity, gas or water bills? Would you like to help them more, but don’t know how? This 2-day workshop will provide some answers!
Day 1: Friday 8 June 9:30 - 4:30
Day 2: Friday 15 June 9:30 - 4:30
at UCWB, 77 Gibson Street, Bowden.
ConnectEd's 2-day Utilities Literacy Training for Community Workers will teach you about:
- Electricity, Gas and Water in South Australia
- Reading and understanding meters and bills
- Using energy and water efficiently at home
- How to choose an energy retailer and get a good deal
- Concessions, complaints, disputes and hardship
- New technologies and tariff reform.
It's not too late to book a seat: Register here
ConnectEd is offering a number of training and education events over the coming months, including more two-day workshops in September, and a series of half-day modules in August. See the Events page of the ConnectEd website for details.
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Bring your bills to Charles Sturt!
 This month, ConnectEd will be running a “Bring your Bills” roadshow – five libraries in five days – across the City of Charles Sturt.
Qualified educators and financial counsellors will be able to help you read and understand your utility bills and answer any questions you may have.
Pop in to one of the libraries anytime during the hours listed below.
Monday 18 June at Hindmarsh Library, 11am to 2pm
Tuesday 19 June at Findon Library, 2pm to 5pm
Wednesday, 20 June at West Lakes Library, 11am to 2pm
Thursday, 21 June at Henley Beach Library, 11am to 2pm
Friday 22 June at Civic Library (Woodville), 2pm to 5pm
This event is free. No booking required. Please bring your utility bills with you. See the Events page for more details.
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Demand Response Trials
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has funded a number of pilot projects to trial paying customers to voluntarily switch off electricity demand as a way of managing the system during extreme peaks.
During times of peak electricity use, demand soars towards the capacity limits of the generation and distribution system. If we don't want to spend large amounts of money on expanding the system, we can trim demand so it stays within current system constraints. System operators sometimes have to do this by using rolling blackouts, or "brownouts" - but it would be much less disruptive for electricity users to employ deliberate strategies to schedule or shave their power needs through peak times, and get paid for doing so.
Most of the pilot projects involve large industrial electricity users, but one, run by a retailer, gives residential customers the opportunity to be involved. Powershop is offering their Victorian smart meter customers the chance to receive a $10 reward each time they switch off 10% of their demand when asked to do so. The switch-off request will be sent by SMS, with at least an hour’s notice, at times when the electricity network is under strain and at risk of blackouts – typically during summer’s hottest days. Participants then have the option to reduce their load – perhaps they’ll switch off the pool pump, or go out to the shops or library, turning down the air conditioner on the way out. The most successful participants may qualify for bonus rewards of up to $900 of credit on their electricity bill.
We will certainly let you know when it arrives in South Australia! Powershop’s 2 minute video does a great job of explaining the need for demand response, and outlines how their program will work.
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 Spotlight: A "Free Solar System"?
A number of companies offer “$0 upfront”, “free solar system” deals on installation of household solar systems. At a glance, it sounds attractive, but how does it work?
Offers like this are generally either leases, loans that include an interest-free period, or Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
In a solar lease agreement, the solar company installs their system on the homeowner’s roof, and the homeowner pays for the use of the system via a regular fee for the life of the agreement, but gets the benefit of the solar electricity, to use or to export for a feed-in tariff. The solar company retains ownership of the solar system, either removing it at the end of the agreement, or selling it to the homeowner for a fraction of the full purchase price.
The advantage for householder is it gets solar electricity from the installation date, even if they can’t afford to buy a solar system outright. The solar company makes their money from ensuring that the total fee they get from the agreement, including any early exit fee, is greater than the price they pay for buying, installing, maintaining and insuring the system.
With an interest-free loan, the homeowner owns the solar system from the time that it is installed, and immediately gets the full benefit of the solar electricity, but pays off the loan over time.
When looking at “no interest finance”, be wary of the potential for the solar system to have been marked up to cover the cost of the loan. There may also be set-up or monthly fees.
With a Power Purchase Agreement, the solar company installs their solar system on the homeowner’s roof, and the homeowner pays for the solar electricity that the system makes, at a price that is (hopefully!) cheaper than the price of grid electricity that they buy from their usual electricity retailer. The solar company effectively borrows the homeowner’s roof as a location for their solar generation equipment, and becomes a second electricity retailer to the homeowner. The homeowner would still keep their usual retailer, and have to pay the daily supply charge and for the grid electricity that they use, for instance at night, when the solar system is not making electricity – but they should need to buy less grid electricity.
The Tesla Virtual Power Plant plan initiated by the former Labor Government involves this type of agreement.
PPAs tend to be long agreements – up to 20 years – and the solar company retains ownership of the solar system throughout, with responsibility for maintenance and insurance. The system may be offered to the homeowner for a nominal fee at the end of the agreement – but a 20 year old solar system may well be approaching the end of its life.
Under a PPA, the homeowner may have to pay for the solar electricity that is produced, whether they use it or not – so if they go on holiday or into hospital, or get a job that means they’re out during the day, they’d still pay for solar electricity, though (depending on the fine print of the agreement) they may also receive a feed-in tariff for electricity that’s exported to the grid. The homeowner would need to ensure that the feed-in tariff is higher than the price they pay to the solar retailer for each kilowatt hour, or they would be making a loss!
In all three cases, the solar company will make money from the agreement, potentially more money than if they simply sold the solar system to the homeowner. A homeowner may well be able to install a solar system much more cheaply by using a personal or “green” loan, or by borrowing more through their mortgage. Before signing any agreement, readers are urged to be sure that they understand the agreement well.
The ACCC provides more information about solar leases and PPAs.
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Heat yourself, not your House
As winter descends with a thud, many South Australian householders have not yet paid the cooling bills for the April heatwave as they turn their minds to heating.
Keeping warm through winter can be a significant household expense, and going without warmth can affect people’s physical and mental health. Many homes are not very draught proof or well insulated – so how best to keep warm?
Dave Southgate and his family live in Canberra, and have been experimenting with using personal  heating instead of space heating – “heat yourself, not your house”. He reports that by using warm clothes – fluffy dressing gowns – and personal heaters such as heated throw rugs and personal heating pads, his family used about 90% less energy over winter than they had while depending on their ducted gas system, and stayed comfortably warm.
When you depend on heating all the air in a space, the temperature needs to be raised high enough to keep the coldest and least active person in the space comfortable. Heating all the air uses a lot of energy. If the temperature in the space is lowered from 21 to 16 degrees C, the energy savings can be as high as 35-50%. Sixteen degrees is fairly cool, but can be warm enough for an active person, while a person sitting still can keep comfortable by using a rug or hot water bottle. If the air is not heated at all, then 100% of that energy can be redirected into directly heating people.
The “heat yourself, not your house” strategy would be particularly recommended to people who are not able to insulate or draught proof their home. At the end of the day, electric blankets fitted under reasonably warm bedding cost only a few cents an hour to run, and create a cosy place to snuggle up.
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Origin Energy Gas Discount Offer
Origin Energy now offers a second special discount to SA Energy Concession recipients.
The retailer now offers an 11% discount on gas accounts, in addition to the 18% discount on electricity supply and usage that was previously negotiated by the SA Government.
This may tip the balance for some concession holders who may not have found the first offer compelling enough to switch. If you or your clients are receiving the government energy concession, it may be worthwhile exploring the benefits of this deal. See the Origin website for details.
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Mobile Phone Plans and Digital Inclusion
A recent survey reported in iTWire found Australians currently pay $44 a month on average for their mobile phone plans, down from $48 in 2017.
This figure puts the total expenditure in Australia at $9 billion a year. No wonder there are more and more telco providers entering the industry, trying to get a share of the market.
 The research highlights changes to the lifespan of handsets. These days, it appears consumers are holding on to their handsets for longer. Data reveals that once their handset is paid off, consumers are more likely to ‘plan hop’, taking their phone with them.
Although prices in the sector have stabilised and competition is strong, 15% of South Australians still do not have internet access from home, according to data just released from SACOSS. This figure is higher than the national average of 13.5%. Businesses and government run the risk of ‘ignoring or disenfranchising’ this cohort, said CEO Ross Womersley, as more and more transactions move online.
In ConnectEd community education sessions, particularly with groups of elderly members of the community living independently at home, we meet participants who do not have computers, not to mention internet access, at home. Digital literacy is a significant barrier for the very elderly and yet it's not so easy today to apply for concessions if you can’t (and don’t know how to) go online!
Looking for more: see the InDaily article on digital inclusion in South Australia.
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SA Power Networks seeks feedback
ConnectEd staff take stories gathered from community workers and community members across South Australia into a number of policy discussions.
Recently, staff have attended a series of SA Power Networks customer engagement workshops for their “regulatory reset” process, representing those South Australian customers who are most vulnerable to potential increases in electricity distribution prices.
Swimming through the jargon of Opex, Capex, Augex, Repex, RAB, vanilla WACC, and the mysterious “gamma” presents its challenges; but it provides the opportunity to keep reminding SA Power Networks that some of those who rely on electricity have no ability to absorb any further price increases through the 2020-25 regulatory period.
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SACOSS Essential Services and Disability Conference
On Monday 14 May, ConnectEd staff attended SACOSS’ annual conference at Adelaide Oval. The theme this year was access to essential services by people living with disability.
Speakers highlighted the particular challenges that managing disabilities can cause to managing essential services. For example, heating, cooling, and washing needs can be increased; and access to telecommunications can require technology which is not covered under the Customer Service Guarantee.
A discussion of appropriate language reminded us that anyone can - from time to time - become a “customer in vulnerable circumstances”.
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Consumer Tips: Solar Power Calculators
We recommend energymadeeasy.gov.au as an energy contract comparison tool. However, householders with solar systems note that it does have a significant failing – its calculation of estimated contract costs does not take solar export feed-in tariff payments into account – and these credits can make a big difference to the bill.
The NSW energy regulator (IPART) has created a comparator spreadsheet that can compare two electricity offers and calculate the feed-in tariff for each contract.
The user needs to enter price details for each offer, and the size of the solar system. The calculator uses an average daily solar generation figure, combined with an estimate of percentage of solar generation self-consumed, to give estimates of feed-in tariffs and charges for the two chosen offers.
If you’re thinking of investing in a solar system, or just want to learn more, Solar Choice’s website offers a range of calculators that may be useful in understanding and planning solar and battery system installations.
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The Retail Energy Price Paradox
Speaking at Australian Energy Week, Victorian Essential Services Commission chair Ron Ben-David reportedly described “the unfortunate paradox of retail energy prices” – the more customers switch, the greater the costs of competition, the bigger the retail component of bills becomes, and the higher the prices.
Ben-David said that the need for retailers to use expensive advertising campaigns and hefty discounts to attract new customers means that all other customers are subsidising those costs.
The commissioner spoke about the value of services that allow consumers to compare on the basis of price. Contract comparison services which rely on price rather than attractive retailer advertising could encourage retailers to ensure that their prices are genuinely lower.
 Consumer advocacy group Choice has invented a new electricity contract switching service which promises to find the cheapest deals. Customers can use Choice’s Transformer service to find out whether there is a cheaper electricity contract. If they then choose to subscribe, Transformer will switch them to the cheaper contract, and the service promises to keep on automatically checking and switching, to ensure that the customer’s deal is not beaten by a newer, cheaper deal.
While it is free to find out whether a cheaper deal exists, joining the switching service costs $99 a year, and depends on the customer agreeing to direct debit payment of their electricity account.
Customers can compare contracts for free via energymadeeasy.gov.au, where all generally-available energy offers must be presented.
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ConnectEd Jukebox
We leave you with this rocking version of Simon and Garfunkel's classic Hazy Shade of Winter from the all-girl 1980s legend the Bangles! There may not be 'snow on the ground' here, but the coldest season is upon us.
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The ConnectEd Program supports people to reduce financial hardship associated with electricity, gas, water and communication services.
4 ways to manage your energy and water bills
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