January is the time when retailers adjust Victorian electricity prices. Last year, AGL, Origin and Energy Australia raised electricity usage rates by around 15% in Victoria. The good news is electricity rates are mostly unchanged in January 2019 for many retailers
including Energy Australia and Origin Energy. The majority of second and third-tier retailers in Victoria including Simply Energy, Diamond Energy and Dodo haven’t updated their plan pricing (as of January 15th). Of course, there are a few exceptions. But all in all, it’s an uneventful price change season. And that’s a really good thing, although we’d love to see prices falling.Some changes to note include;
- AGL has made some small reductions in usage rates and supply charges in Victoria => ~2% depending on tariff and network.
- Tango Energy, who offer some of the most competitive rates in Victoria have changed some of their plans. The duration of Tango Energy’s fixed rate plans has fallen from 24 months to 12 months. Plus they’ve introduced credit card fees.
- Some of the smaller retailers have increased their rates up to 10%.
So it’s worth a quick check to confirm where you plan stands with our comprehensive electricity comparison.
The sun still shines on feed-in tariffs
There’s positive news for solar owners. There have been very few changes in feed-in tariffs with high feed-in rates still available. With Victoria’s solar boom in full swing it’s reasonable to expect that retailers will want to appeal to the fast-growing number of solar owners.
Will stable prices last?
After the closure of Hazelwood power station in 2017 spiked wholesale electricity costs, the market has settled down. Wholesale electricity costs are now mostly flat. This is due to a large pipeline of renewable energy being added to the grid that seems to be capping future wholesale prices. So, we may have another year or two of flat retail electricity prices. While there has been political pressure on electricity companies to rein in prices, there’s no evidence that retailers are changing what they do. It will be interesting to see what happens later in 2019 from a Federal Government perspective, and the effect this may have on business confidence/investment in the energy sector and in turn electricity prices for Australians.
Now is a good time to review the market to see if there are plans available that offer your potential savings. WATTever’s comprehensive electricity comparison makes it easy. By comparing every retailer and all their publicly listed plans, you can quickly check your options and find the best deal.