Electricity Brokers

As we all know electricity prices have risen dramatically.

I just recieved a call from an "Electricity broker" who advised me he can save me 15% on my current bills for both home and business.

This sounded very good, and of course he wanted to close the deal straight away.

However, I demurred, as I NEVER do phone deals..I ALWAYS insist on me ringing them back later.

Upon questioning, there doesnt seem to be any reason not to proceed...he stated that they are brokers employed by the retailers to harvest customers.

I have heard reports in the media about this practice, with mainly good, but also some bad press.

My current provider is Origin..he said they charge X and dont discount...my new provider would be AGL, and they would give me 15% on Origins "regulated rate"

No sneaky penalty fees OR ability of provider to alter without permission your deal. You do have to sign a 2 year contract, with 10 day cooling off period.

I guess the obvious next step would be to ring my 2 seperate providers and urge them to match...but then again, why should I...this sounds easier?

Anyone else done/considered this? (lots of you will get a call!)

the brokers name in this case was makeitcheaper dot com (no connection to me hence typed, not linked, web address)

I told the guy to email me in a few days when i had done some research.

All comments or suggestions welcome...normally I am averse to changing providers, as salesman invariably promise heaven and earth, not always the case.

We changed from Origin (where we already had a discount) to TruEnergy at our factory last year - similar story - TruEnergy rep was doorknocking the industrial area targetting small to medium business, apparently they were doing good deals to establish a market in Qld. I did the research and asked Origin if they'd match their offer, which they wouldn't - their best discount was still way off the 17% discount to govt tariff offered. Had to sign up for 3 years, but have a get-out-of-jail free exit if they can't/won't match a better offer (in writing) from a competitor. As our elect bill at work is $3,500 - $4,000 a quarter it was well worth doing. I understand completely how you are feeling, as I rather cynically expect there to be some sort of a catch/scam these days - but sometimes it simply is a case of good deals being offered due to a competitive industry.

I haven't bothered to look for a better deal for our home electricity as we have the .50c feed-in tariff for our solar production with Origin, guaranteed until 2028, and I don't want to risk messing that up!

awg said:

I just recieved a call from an "Electricity broker" who advised me he can save me 15% on my current bills for both home and business.

This sounded very good, and of course he wanted to close the deal straight away.

However, I demurred, as I NEVER do phone deals..I ALWAYS insist on me ringing them back later.

My current provider is Origin..he said they charge X and dont discount...my new provider would be AGL, and they would give me 15% on Origins "regulated rate"

No sneaky penalty fees OR ability of provider to alter without permission your deal. You do have to sign a 2 year contract, with 10 day cooling off period.

the brokers name in this case was makeitcheaper dot com (no connection to me hence typed, not linked, web address)

Click to expand...

I have a similar phone call from a mop called Energy Finder but since I can`t find anything on the net about them I am not interested, and like you I do not buy anything over the phone unless I make the phone call first, also when I asked for a phone number to call back on I was given a 1300 for another company, when I called them they did not have any record of them calling me.

This whole business is a disgrace, the utilities should have never been sold.:frown:

Just buy shares in SKI, so far for me they have increased in value by more than twice what I paid for electricity over the period I have held them, and that is without counting the dividends.

If you can't beat em, join em !

Spark Infrastructure's current portfolio comprises a 49% interest in three regulated electricity distribution companies, ETSA Utilities, CitiPower and Powercor.

finnsk said:

I have a similar phone call from a mop called Energy Finder but since I can`t find anything on the net about them I am not interested, and like you I do not buy anything over the phone unless I make the phone call first, also when I asked for a phone number to call back on I was given a 1300 for another company, when I called them they did not have any record of them calling me.

Click to expand...

this mob has an ok website...and a 1300 num...sounds legit..this is part of my due diligence.
Last time I changed the changer promised i was not up for any xfer fees, but the loser charged me a $80 termination fee!

Boggo said:

Just buy shares in SKI, so far for me they have increased in value by more than twice what I paid for electricity over the period I have held them, and that is without counting the dividends.

If you can't beat em, join em !

Spark Infrastructure's current portfolio comprises a 49% interest in three regulated electricity distribution companies, ETSA Utilities, CitiPower and Powercor.

Click to expand...

APA is much the same, and I would have been even happier if I had jumped to HDF, before the takover, as I thought to do

awg said:

this mob has an ok website...and a 1300 num...sounds legit..this is part of my due diligence.
Last time I changed the changer promised i was not up for any xfer fees, but the loser charged me a $80 termination fee!



APA is much the same, and I would have been even happier if I had jumped to HDF, before the takover, as I thought to do

Click to expand...

Energy Finder search
http://www.google.com.au/search?cli...oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=W7drUKHlCJCZmQXaxYCYDA
Not sure what you are talking about?

At least you have a choice. In regional Qld we are stuck with Ergon, so they can charge what they like.

Julia said:

At least you have a choice. In regional Qld we are stuck with Ergon, so they can charge what they like.

Click to expand...

I am glad that I have a choice but what I worry about is it a scam

i changed from origin to red, simply because red is an australian owned/operated company affiliated with the snowy river power scheme and they offered me a better rate than origin did. time will tell if this situation continues.

I think these brokers work with certain companies, not all, to bring in people, abit like door knocking.
Yes its a good deal and at the end of the day its a cheaper bill.
The only thing I hate is having to sign a contract

Charges are the difference, all the fine print.
How they set that up.

Be sure to check the service to property charge - some retailers have been known to discount the tariff charged, but increase the service to property charge to compensate....