News stories about energy prices going up meant she had accepted she would be paying higher prices for her hot water.
"It's not easy to see on the paper bill that's it an estimate, it's on the final page right down the bottom in small writing," she said.Ms White posted on a community Facebook page about her experience and was flooded with respondents that also had no idea this was common practice for both electricity and gas bills.Meter readings and estimations are the responsibility of distributers, in Ms White's case Jemena, who pass it onto the retailer issue a bill to the customer.
"Customers who receive an estimated bill are able to submit their own read directly to us via the AGL App or over the phone." "There needs to be a reason they can't physically read the meter, and they need to let the customer know what that is, so it can be fixed."Mr Memery said he does not believe energy companies are not out to profit by over-estimating, but pointed out it is the customers who ends up paying if the their bill is wrong and they do not know to check.
In NSW about 30 per cent of households currently have one, which is roughly similar in the ACT, Queensland, South Australia, and Tasmania. "There's a very delicate balance in trying to give consumers enough information that they can make informed decisions, but not completely overwhelming them with complexity and challenges that they don't necessarily need," she said."The average energy consumer doesn't want to have to think deeply about their energy bills.They're already worried about cost of living pressures, they're flat out," she said.
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