The demand pricing looks at your smart meter usage in 30 minute blocks 24 hours a day.
In the 30 minute block that you use the highest amount of electricity you obviously get charged the highest fee, fair enough.
But the racket is that you will be charged this highest fee for each of all of the rest of the days of the entire month or even quarter.
You could even be away for 30 of 31 days. Come home & turn everything on & have a massive spike. Then you get charged this same spike usage for all the other days of the month or quarter.
We are further stuffed as we have instantaneous electrical hot water heaters. In a 30 minute block we will have a massive spike from each of the 22kWh HWS.
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We seem to be surrounded by con artists. Look also at the current enquiry into the big four accounting firms and the billion dollars each year of taxpayers money.
Some time ago, our power provider offered the option of demand tariff. From my previous aside knowledge during my previous employment, I did not take the demand tariff option. I have worked in the water utilities industry. For decades, major pumps were on a demand tariff scheme. In high water demand times ie very hot dry periods, it was always a goal to be able to supply the public with enough water while not having to activate the extra pumps. If one of the extra pumps was activated even for a short time, it could mean an extra years cost of power. In my time there, that would have been a few hundred thousand dollars to the water authority and with the cost being ultimately passed to the public. So demand tariff not for my household if we can avoid it. If you have that option, you need to manage the power draw peaks to avoid the extra costs.
The demand tariffs can make money for the power provider, but the demand tariff schemes are also in place, so that power users, especially very high power users, are prompted by money penalty, to try to keep their power usage less variable, ie avoid peaks. As many people might know, it can be difficult, inefficient and expensive in operating costs to turn power generating units on and off. This does not include costs of transmission systems to carry peak power.
-- Edited by watsea on Monday 3rd of June 2024 02:29:00 PM
-- Edited by watsea on Monday 3rd of June 2024 02:29:59 PM
operating costs to turn power generating units on and off. and more by Watsea "
Wow, peak demand charges from Red Energy from 3pm to 9pm. In summer the hotest part of the day. How can you escape using more power then.?
A total rip off by the Companies that clamoured to be " An Energy Retailer " when times were good for them. They have now worked out how to get it all again, aided and abetted by shonky Ministers and Public Servants who forget whom they are supposed to be looking after. Without an apparent concience either, as no mention about fixing the issue.
Not to forget that retailers do not have to give any notice of the change of tarrif either.
Craig they don't turn any coal fired units off when the know they are going to need them because it takes far to long to build them back up to operating temperature.
They just lower the output of all units in the station. Some Generators were acting badly to get the highest price in SA after all their troubles a few years back but they were Gas Fired from memory?
