Check It With PowerBill.
Gain the Evidence to Obtain Rebates.
What’s New v1.0.6
In this release I have upgraded the functionality to include Solar (tariff data entry, and its calculation against the overall billable amount).
Information
It is not a comparison app!
PowerBill is an app that helps you accurately calculate your power bill amount, independently of what is provided on your power bill, so that you can ensure that the bill is correct, before you pay.
If your energy bill is not correct PowerBill provides you with the full data breakdown (hour-by-hour, day-by-day) so that you can request and obtain Refunds/Rebates.
To check the price of your bill, you enter in the:
- Rates,
- Rate Types applicable to each hour (which are stated on your bill).
- Your ‘actual usage’ data.
After entering in these details the app calculates the price at the click of a button.
So you need to have at hand: a copy of your Bill and Your ‘actual usage’ data.
[To get your data, log into your retailers customer ‘mycaccount’ portal and look for the link that says ‘my usage’ or similar. This will contain a csv file of your meter data. Download this file.
You will upload it at step 3 of the app to facilitate the calculations].
It takes less than a minute from entering the 1st rate value to getting your bill price (in PowerBill™ when you have the Bill and Data ready).
National Energy Retail Amendment Rule 2014 No. 2
Concerned with customer access to information about their energy consumption, and in part says:
(2) Historical billing data provided to the small customer for the previous 2 years must be provided without charge, but may be provided subject to a reasonable charge where the data requested is for an earlier period or has been requested more than:
(a) four times in any 12 month period, in the case of the supply of electricity; or
(b) once in any 12 month period, in the case of the supply of gas.
*From Smart Meters (Type 4 and 5) that produce the nem12 & nem13 file format specification (which is a csv file of 51 Columns).
*This data holds importance for many reasons, chiefly as it is a “Gold standard” and core ingredient to calculating the correct bill charges.
Meaning you have the rights to that data now and can obtain it by:
- Finding it within your energy retailers customer portal.
- Requesting the data to be sent to you (in csv format) from Retailer or Distributor.
Access to Real Time Data
Due to its importance to consumer rights and obligations, enforcing consumer Real-Time Access to meter data is currently under consideration by the Regulator (AER).
https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/real-time-data-consumers
Vitally important to accurate billing, is the ‘actual’ meter read data, where the meter reads are performed on a quarterly basis and the data provided by some retailers as a downloadable csv file through their customer portals.
Billing
- Estimate bill cycles (Estimate-Estimate-Actual) – where ‘actualisation events’ should occur on every 3rd month and the account is evened out/balanced to zero, so any over-payments or under-payments are redressed and the consumer only pays for what they have used. (‘Actual’ usage equals actual payments made).
- Actual bill cycles – where ‘actualisation events’ should occur as a matter of fact every 2 or 3 months, (whenever the actual read is done).
- Consumers are advised to check their bill accurately records their breakdown of usage no matter the billing cycle, so the charges applied are accurate (particularly those on Time-of-Use plans which can be notably troublesome).
Consumer Advocates
Government Authorities
Jack Overpaid
Background
- Jack liked to keep his records straight, so calculated and made payments, to match the self-meter-reads that he sent to his retailer.
- He noticed his account was not recording the payments exactly as he had paid them.
- His self-reads were being ignored and his payments were being allocated according to the estimate bills, so there was an obvious mis-match.
Supporting Actions
- Jack used the ‘Check Account Balance’ feature in PowerBill™ to find his account balance.
- It showed Jack had paid $40 dollars more than what was showing in his account records.
- Jack submitted a Dispute Inquiry with his retailer (coupled with a case lodged with the Energy & Water Ombudsman.)
Resolution
- After examination of the ‘Actual’ usage data and the payments made, it was clear that Jack had overpaid, and the extra funds were not being accounted for correctly.
- The retailer was therefore compelled to make the necessary adjustments to the account so it balanced to zero.
Jill’s Adjustments
Background
- Jill had been away from home for a Holiday, then Work Trips and realised her Electricity bills and Direct Debits did not take into consideration the times of obvious lower usage.
- Jill wanted to only pay for what she used, and for the bills to reflect that.
- Her bills were ‘Estimates’, that should follow the: Estimate, Estimate, Actual cycle, where the ‘Actual’ bill, is intended to carry adjustments to address any over-or- under payments-or-charges, to bring the account to a zero balance.
Supporting Actions
- To convince her retailer there was an issue Jill needed to provide concrete data to support her points.
- This would mean performing her own calculations herself to prove the bill’s real amount.
- Jill also needed to figure out how the charges are calculated and then work them out herself, which can be a time consuming and confusing task.
Resolution
- By using PowerBill™ that prescribed; obtaining her ‘Actual Usage’ Meter Data to calculate her actual bill amount, Jill quickly found the total amount payable was lower than the totals of the bills received, so she was owed money back (a credit).
- By providing the retailer with the supporting evidence, Jill’s the evidence was clear and the required adjustments were made to her account so it balanced to zero.
Footnote: Whilst the Direct Debits were recorded, the overall account balance did not reflect Actual Usage and Actual Payments in relation to the Actual energy she had used.
Jill’s Account Balanced
Background
- Jill reviewed her account at the end of the next quarter after she had received: Estimate, Estimate, and now this bill, the Actual.
Supporting Actions
- Jill downloaded her usage data and ran it through PowerBill™.
- The data showed her total usage across that period to cost $350, which was much higher than normal, however she has been using the heating a lot recently and she could see in the data the times of use matched-up to her recollections.
- Adding up her last two Direct Debit payments ($110, $103) and subtracting them from the $350 total, the new bill should be $137 to balance the account overall.
It was $137, Account Balanced, so Jill’s was satisfied.
Resolution
- As Jill liked to keep her records, she asked here retailer to provide an updated statement of accounts.
Copied!Language English App Size N/A (browser based) Systems IOS/Android/Windows/MacOS Age 18+ Legally responsible payer *In-App Purchases of the Data to obtain Rebates/Refunds