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How to get help with your power bill

As COVID-19 continues to take its toll, state and federal governments have introduced various financial support packages and initiatives to help businesses with cashflow.

Jenny Dikranian

Content Writer, My Business

While these may provide financial assistance to some degree, there are still ongoing costs for business operators – even when you’re forced to temporarily close due to public health orders. There are bills to be paid for utilities such as your power bill.

If you or your business faces difficulty paying your energy bill, you should contact your energy supplier to discuss financial support or payment plans. Contact information can be found on any of your energy bills. Eligible small businesses may also contact the Business Energy Advice Program (BEAP) for help in understanding your bill and how to engage your energy supplier as well as explore energy efficiency savings.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) – the body that enforces energy market rules, has strengthened protections available to businesses during the pandemic. The AER has developed a statement of expectations of energy retailers to help protect small business and residential customers. This is in response to the uncertain nature of the pandemic when stay-at home-orders come into effect for various jurisdictions and LGAs for a period of seven days or more. Additional protections also apply for two weeks after the stay-at-home orders end.

The AER has identified three key principles to help protect energy customers.

Energy retailers:

1. Are obliged to offer small businesses who indicate being in a position of financial stress, a payment plan or hardship arrangement.

2. Should not disconnect small businesses who are in financial stress without agreement.

3. Are unable to refer customers to debt collection agencies or to credit default listing.

The statement provides cover for New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania when stay-at-home orders of seven days or more are announced. Energy customers in Victoria come under separate protections of the Essential Services Commission, while Western Australia and the Northern Territory have their own separate retail energy market regulation.

While this can provide you with some peace of mind and allow you a grace period, there are ways you can help cut down on your energy usage and reduce your bill. Regardless of what industry your business is in, if you know what your main energy running costs are, and you’ve been impacted by restrictions, now’s a good time to maintain your equipment for efficiency – or shut them down.

Energy cost-cutting tips

If your employees are working from home, clear out the staff fridge and switch it off. For any non-perishable goods that you’re storing in fridges – there’s no need to keep them cold. Consider investing in a timer for future use, that way items such as drinks are only cooled when needed and you’re not running fridges unnecessarily.

Check the seals on all fridges and make sure they are not coming loose. A good seal will optimise the efficiency, especially if you do need to keep things running during a lockdown, and if that’s the case, move everything into one fridge to minimise the number of appliances you’re running.

When did you last service your unit? To get the best out of your air-conditioner, make sure you schedule regular maintenance. Leaks are costly because it means your unit needs to work harder. Make sure the filters are either cleaned or replaced as part of the maintenance. This will add to the service fee but it’s the best way to make sure your appliance is performing at its peak.

When running your unit, set the thermostat so it’s not too warm in winter or cool in summer but at a comfortable level.

Bad habits such as leaving lights on may be hard to break, but by making behavioural changes you can make savings. When walking away, remember to turn off the lights. In some settings it may make good sense to install light sensors or timers which have an automatic function to switch off. Consider installing dimmers to reduce energy consumption, and if you need to run lights for long periods, replace your halogens with LED options.

One quick way to seek assurance you’re on the best energy plan is to do an energy bill comparison. My Business Energy (BAE) provides a free and easy service so you can compare plans with confidence. If you’re not already on the best plan, you can switch and start saving.

David Benchoam, owner of Benelec, is passionate about sustainable, eco-friendly approaches of energy consumption in running his NSW-based communication technology business. He’s made a number of changes to reap the benefits including installing and fully utilising 400 solar panels and LED improvements to the lighting. Once accomplished, David went one step further to compare his energy plan. Using the BAE energy bill comparison service, David found a better deal. The switch has saved his business a whopping $5,000 a year. He couldn’t be happier.

While it’s great the AER has developed protections for energy consumers, you have the power to drive positive change. By making some adjustments to how you operate and becoming more energy efficient you can help reduce your running costs and help save the environment.