ActewAGL

Greenchoice is available as an optional extra you can add to your electricity plan. The amount you pay for this extra goes towards purchasing renewable electricity, like solar, hydro and wind. The green energy bought through Greenchoice gets fed back into the grid to replace what would otherwise have been generated by fossil fuels.

When you add Greenchoice to your plan, you can choose between a fixed daily amount or a percentage of your electricity bill. This option is also available to everyone in Australia, not just ActewAGL customers.

You have several different options for paying your ActewAGL bill. You can do so online through your bank using BPAY. You can also pay your energy bills via phone, through the mail or in person at any Australia Post office.

If you receive Centrelink payments, you can even opt to have your ActewAGL energy bill deducted from your payments.

ActewAGL offers concessions to people who hold one of the following cards:

• Pensioner Concession Card
• Health Care Card
• Department of Veterans’ Affairs Pensioner Concession or Gold Card.

You’ll need your concession card and your account number when you apply for a concession, which you can do by either submitting a form or adding the card details to your account.

You could also be entitled to rebates, depending on your eligibility and the area you live in. In the ACT, the following rebates are available:

• Life support rebate. Available to those with eligible life support equipment.
• Medical energy rebate. Available to people with eligible conditions that cause the inability to self-regulate body temperature.
• Home haemodialysis rebate. Available to customers with home dialysis machines, but only applicable to water and sewage services.

In NSW, rebates include:

• Life support rebate. For those with eligible life support equipment.
• Medical energy rebate. Available to people with eligible medical conditions that cause them to be unable to control their body temperature.
• Family energy rebate. For eligible families who receive the Family Tax Benefit (A or B).
• Low income household rebate. Available to those with eligible concession cards.
• Gas rebate. Available to those with eligible concession cards and circumstances.

ActewAGL offers a rebate for ACT customers with life support equipment, if it has been prescribed by an ACT medical practitioner for a life-threatening condition. Your address has to be your principal place of residence

Life support equipment can include:

• intermittent peritoneal dialysis machines
• Crigler-Najjar syndrome phototherapy equipment
• kidney dialysis machines
• oxygen concentrators
• life support ventilators
• respirators
• CPAP regulators
• nebulisers
• medical heating and cooling
• total parenteral nutrition (TPN) devices
• external feeding and heart pumps
• quadriplegic mobility devices
• continuous positive airway pressure respirators.

Once registered, your address will not lose power from that date and you’ll be given a four-day notice of any planned interruptions.

However, you may need to ensure that you have a backup energy supply available in the event of an unplanned outage. In these cases, you can contact Evoenergy (ACT), Essential Energy (NSW) or Endeavour Energy (NSW).

In the ACT, standard electricity contract prices are regulated by the government, while the retailer sets gas and market electricity contract prices. This is because the ACT is both a regulated and deregulated territory.

The rules around electricity regulation are different in each state and territory, and can sometimes be different again between regions in the same state/territory. In areas where electricity is regulated, customers can’t pick their retailer and prices are set by the government. In deregulated areas, though, customers can freely choose between retailers and are subject to the prices those retailers see fit to charge.

Before you switch electricity retailers, you should make sure that your plan doesn’t have any exit fees (it’s become less common these days, but it can’t hurt to check), that you don’t have any outstanding bills and you know what you need from an electricity plan.

Start by comparing your options to give yourself the best chance of finding the right deal. Once you’ve found the plan you want, simply apply for your plan through the new retailer you’ve selected, and they’ll take care of the rest!

As of 1 October 2021, electricity transfers no longer take up to 90 days as they did in the past. Instead, transfers can now occur within two business days in the future or retrospectively up to 65 days in the past, subject to eligibility. Future transfers may be based on an estimated read.