{Post brought to you in Conjunction with Victorian Energy Compare}
Would you believe that most Victorians are paying too much when it comes to their energy bills?
According to government data, most of us find it all too hard to shop around when it comes to finding the best energy providers even though we might be throwing money down the drain. Now I must admit that while I am pretty darn good at shopping, our household has fallen in to the estimated one in three that has never shopped around and switched electricity or gas providers since moving in to our current abode (8 years ago mind you!).
According to government data, most of us find it all too hard to shop around when it comes to finding the best energy providers even though we might be throwing money down the drain. Now I must admit that while I am pretty darn good at shopping, our household has fallen in to the estimated one in three that has never shopped around and switched electricity or gas providers since moving in to our current abode (8 years ago mind you!).
If, like me, the concept of comparing energy providers seems way too hard for you, the great news is that the helpful folks at the Victorian Government have launched Victorian Energy Compare to help us save some coin. This is a fantastic, quick and easy to use online comparison tool that allows Victorian's the opportunity to compare electricity, gas and even solar offers in the marketplace in one go!
The government estimates that more than half of us that try the Victorian Energy Compare tool, will find that they can potentially save more than $700 a year or more across electricity and gas by switching energy providers or moving to a better suited plan with their current provider. $700?! That is a HUGE sum of money that I would prefer to see sitting in my bank account... or invested in my wardrobe!
When using the tool to look at what we could be saving, I found that by switching to a different local provider we too could be saving ourselves a pretty penny or two!
The tool makes it a cinch to compare quickly and easily (in those 5 minutes between nap times). I had our most recent electricity and gas bill handy when I was going through the exercise which is broken up in to the following steps/areas:
Your Energy Profile
The first part of the tool asks you a series of questions on your household (number of people, rooms etc), to help build your energy profile.
Consumption
The next part assesses your consumption based on a few details taken from your most recent bill.
Offers
The next part shows you the available offers for your area sorted and ranked by price. You can then click on individual offers to get all of the fine print on the contract, charges, conditions, any other applicable fees. You also have the option to contact the retailer direct or simply print off the details and get on to it later (when it is bed time perhaps!)
Results
The final part of the tool allows you to compare any results that you may be interested in, side by side to ensure you are comparing apples with apples!
My Verdict?
Instead of being complacent with our energy providers each year, I am going to diarise a date and get in to the habit of using the tool on an annual basis. This will give me the opportunity to regularly check and ensure our providers are giving us the best deal out there, like I do when it comes time to renewing our car or house insurance each year. It really was so simple and well worth the exercise.
Now that I have worked out just how much we are going to be saving (yay!), it might just be time for a spot of online shopping....
