Thousands Of Australian Households Missing Out On Energy Discounts

In some states up to 41% of people eligible for concessions on their energy bills aren’t receiving them, according to the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC).

ACT had the highest percentage of eligible households missing out, with South Australia not too far behind at 38%. NSW sat at 35% and Queensland and 29%.
About a third of the population are eligible for energy concessions, which suggests that there’s a large number of households who are missing out on vital savings.

Is there good news? In Victoria, which is set up differently to other states, only 7% of eligible customers missed out on energy concessions. Victorians were more likely to miss savings on their water bill instead.

Why are Australian households missing out on energy concessions?

It’s the bill payer’s responsibility to contact their retailer and get any discounts applied to their account. The CPRC thinks this is causing a number of issues, such as:

Low awareness of the concessions available to claim.
Direct debit payments and lack of information on bills make it harder to identify when a payment doesn’t have a concession applied.
Some people mistake pay-on-time discounts for a concession.
Migrants and people with non-Anglo Saxon surnames often have their names misspelled at some point of the process, meaning the discount isn’t applied.

Be aware: Retailers are unlikely to proactively contact customers to let them know their concession may have expired.

And in some cases, the CPRC found that energy companies didn’t apply the discounts even when all the correct details were in the system.

The bottom line

The CPRC looked at people who held Health Care Cards, Pension Concession Cards, or a Gold Veterans Concession Card.

🔎 So if you or a relative holds one of these cards, check your bill and speak to your energy provider as you could be missing out on savings.

Don’t assume anything: The CPRC found that 19% of eligible Tasmanian residents weren’t getting their discounts applied, despite 97% of Tassie homes getting their energy from the same supplier.