Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor says the Coalition Government is putting energy retailers on notice to deliver more affordable and fairer plans for customers.
“Hume families need affordable and reliable electricity. This is something I’ve been advocating for strongly in the party room and through the media,” Mr Taylor said.
“But the energy retailers need to do their part, especially when it comes to making customers aware of when their discount period ends.”
As rules stand, retailers are not obliged to inform customers when their discount period ends if their contract is ongoing.
“Customers deserve to know when the bill is changing and by how much,” Mr Taylor said.
“We also need to make it easier and less confronting for customers to compare plans – to compare like with like.
“The Australian Energy Regulator has found the difference between the best and worst offers available could be worth more than $1,000 a year to households.
“So when one considers that about half of all households have not switched retailers or contracts in the past five years, it’s easy to see why greater customer awareness can lead to lower energy bills.”
Mr Taylor said making it easier for customers to switch retailers was also critical, with improved transfer times, greater access to data and standardising the presentation of information all important in empowering the consumer.
“I am confident our discussions this week with the energy retailers will result in positive outcomes for the consumer,” Mr Taylor said.
“We’ve already made significant progress to increase domestic supplies of gas, reduce network costs and increase market competition, but there is still much work to do.”
Mr Taylor encouraged Hume consumers to visit the Australian Energy Regulator’s comparison website Energy Made Easy which allows households to plug in the relevant data in the search for a better deal.
