As power bills become increasingly confusing, electricians should use the opportunity to educate their customers on how to save money. Paul Skelton explains.

Do you remember when reading a power bill was simple? When there were two tariffs – peak and off-peak – and you could pay the bill knowing that it was probably correct?

Times certainly have changed. Under the guise of ‘making things fair’, utilities have added so much complexity to the process that these days your power bill may as well be written in Farsi. Surprisingly, though, the increased convolution of power bills could be a good thing for electrical contractors, particularly those with SME customers.

Glenn Platt leads the Grids and Energy Efficiency program within CSIRO’s Energy Flagship, which focuses on solving the energy challenges of consumers, business and grids. He says the issue of complex tariffs presents an interesting business opportunity to contractors – that of education as well as upselling new technologies.

“Utilities are trying to make things a lot more complicated,” Glenn says.

“The increased complexity of tariffs solves a number of problems for people who run the electricity network. The theory is that you can use higher prices to get people to spread their usage out, which means there will be less peak demand.

“Another problem utilities are facing is around the use of solar and the fact that people who have lots of solar often don’t use a lot of electricity from the grid, but still require access at night or on overcast days. As a result, these customers don’t really pay much for the grid, which makes grid-reliant users believe they are subsidising them.

“As a result, utilities are using a ‘demand tariff’, where you get pinged based on the maximum load you draw from the grid.”

Glenn explains that the theory behind the introduction of multiple tariffs is to steer people’s behaviour.

“From a customer’s perspective, things are getting a lot more complicated. They now have to understand all of these new tariffs and change their behaviour accordingly, which in some cases just isn’t possible,” he says.

“A few electrical students I know struggle to tell the difference between power and energy, so how will home owners fare?”

This is where educated contractors come into play.

“People are starting to call out for help. Home owners and small business operators are looking for clarity in regards to tariffs and how to save money. This means there’s an opportunity for contractors to be providing advice to their customers.

“At the other end of the spectrum, there’s an opportunity for contractors to be installing new technologies, like batteries, which are really well suited to helping customers save money given the new tariff structure. Alternatively, you could install load management technology or timers on some circuits. The truth is, there are a range of options available to contractors.

“This is a complex issue and people will pay more should they not change behaviour, which many people don’t know how to do.”

Glenn suggests contractors look at the Federal Government’s Energy Made Easy website, which offers guidance on all the tariffs in Australia. It will help to get a better understanding of how to assist your customers.