Foxy 10 Posted March 12, 2013 Hi all, Just secured a rental in Arana Hills and collect the keys at the weekend so looking forward to our own space at last ! The property has solar panels and also has gas bottles for cooking. We are in the process of sorting utility suppliers and wondered if anyone had any recommendations for electricity suppliers / contracts ? We are a bit confused how it will work as there are solar panels ! We also have a pool and know this can be costly. Also stupid question but I assume I can just refill the gas bottles at the local bunnings ?? Any help / advice / recommendations would be greatly appreciated !! Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johndoe 12,734 Posted March 12, 2013 Electricity prices are fixed by the Qld gov't and the only thing that you can negotiate is a discount on your overall bill, (usually fixed for 2 yrs), so you'll just have to pay the supplier that your landlord has negotiated with so there's nothing much you can do other than pay the bill when it arrives, which should be minimal if he has enough solar panels.. I get a 10% discount on mine. If they're 9 kilo bottles or less, yes, youcan get 'em filled, but if they're bigger, the supplier usually replaces empties for fulls when you contact them See my art here: https://kevindickinsonfineartphot.smugmug.com/ Copies free to PIO members. PM me for details. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest GeorgeD Posted March 12, 2013 As Johndoe says about the gas bottles, 9Kg or less get refilled/swapped at places like Bunnings. I've found our gas costs to go right down since we moved into a house with these cans. We go through wone every two or three months now, but we don't have any service charges or standing charges for gas, so it's actually really cheap. Our standing fee for electricity is actually more than our consumption. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foxy 10 Posted March 12, 2013 Many thanks Johndoe & George D for the info Our property manager has informed us we are responsible for the electricity contract so need to arrange this ourselves. Any providers you could recommend, am searching google and am reading some horror stories about a few out there ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alaska 507 Posted March 12, 2013 We have AGL who have been fine. They offer a "no fixed contract" rate which we signed up with just to get started. A while ago when I looked up others the rates were all very similar. You often get a bit of a discount for signing up for 2 years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest GeorgeD Posted March 12, 2013 Many thanks Johndoe & George D for the info Our property manager has informed us we are responsible for the electricity contract so need to arrange this ourselves. Any providers you could recommend, am searching google and am reading some horror stories about a few out there ! We use Origin. Basically because that's who we have been with for a while! Read as many horror stories as you want...connecting utilities is always a bit hit and miss. They will make a mess of the billing as well. Gas electricity, phone and interent has been the same for us in every house we've been in. Each as bad as the other to be honest. it's normal for you to organise your own electricity supply ina rental. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foxy 10 Posted March 12, 2013 Thanks all for the info - guess I have some shopping around to do ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johndoe 12,734 Posted March 13, 2013 Many thanks Johndoe & George D for the info Our property manager has informed us we are responsible for the electricity contract so need to arrange this ourselves. Any providers you could recommend, am searching google and am reading some horror stories about a few out there ! I'm at a loss as to how you can do this, (within legal terms) although I know it can be done. All providers that I know of stipulate a 2yr contract with a "get out" penalty..............normally 50 or a $100. If you aren''t going to be in the property for 2 yrs, then you can't (honestly) accept a 2yr contract without subjecting yourself to the financial penalty. They may of course, let you sign up for no designated amount of time, but I doubt very much that they will then offer you a discount. I'm with AGL and I negotiated a 10% discount off my bill, which is a substantial saving as I'm a heavy user with a bill pushing $1400 a quarter See my art here: https://kevindickinsonfineartphot.smugmug.com/ Copies free to PIO members. PM me for details. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johndoe 12,734 Posted March 13, 2013 We have AGL who have been fine. They offer a "no fixed contract" rate which we signed up with just to get started.A while ago when I looked up others the rates were all very similar. You often get a bit of a discount for signing up for 2 years. Thanks for that. I wondered if they offered a no fixed term contract. See my art here: https://kevindickinsonfineartphot.smugmug.com/ Copies free to PIO members. PM me for details. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
