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Money-saving expert shows how to avoid ‘very expensive mistake’ paying for power
One Big Switch's Joel Gibson has advised any Australian resident paying for energy under the government's default market price should "get off it" as it's the "most expensive" offer in the market. "It's really just meant to be there as a safety net to catch people who don't swap around and switch to cheaper deals," Mr Gibson told Sky News Australia. "Now if you're on a discounted market offer, again you need to switch if you get a big price increase because there are still some very competitive market offers available. "Some are even fixed rate plans for up to 12 months where you can fix your rates 20 per cent less than the current default market offer for a year." He said he's not sure how long those offers will be available but urged residents to engage in the market and be prepared to "switch and swap around". "If you don't do that in the next year, it's going to become a very expensive mistake." It comes as households across Australia already facing rising cost of living pressures will be dealt a further blow when their power bills increase from July 1. The Australian Energy Regulator released its default market offer (DMO) on Thursday which sets a cap on how much power retailers can charge residential customers. The DMO shows a rise of between 8.5 per cent to 14.1 per cent in New South Wales, translating to between $119 and $227 more. In southeast Queensland there be will an increase of 11.3 per cent meaning an additional $165 and South Australians paying $124, up 7.2 per cent.
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