Compare Electricty and Gas Deals in QLD with Econnex

If you live in Queensland, you are in better luck than your friends and relatives in the rest of Australia – you will be receiving $100 in electricity bill rebates over the next two years as part of the Queensland Government’s asset ownership dividend. Though $50 each year is welcome, you can save even more by comparing gas and electricity plans. Here are all the best tips to save as much money as possible

Explaining the EWOQ Act

In 2006, The Queensland Government passed the Energy and Water Ombudsman Queensland Act, requiring all energy distributors and retailers to sign up for the EWOQ scheme if they wish to sell energy to small customers. Small customers are residential customers or businesses that do not consume over a certain upper threshold. This move was to empower consumers to have their complaints resolved in a prompt and satisfactory manner. As it stands, there are seven energy distributors – the companies that own the pipelines and supply energy to your homes – three electricity and four gas distributors. Your location determines your distributor. However, you have a choice of many retailers.

Queensland electricity and gas rebates

Queensland pension and concession card holders are eligible for rebates for both electricity and gas bills. You can apply for the rebates direct from your electricity and gas retailers. The entitlement is as follows:

• The Electricity Rebate—$340.85 per year (GST inclusive)
• The Reticulated Natural Gas Rebate—$71.30 per year (GST inclusive)

Both rebates are deducted from your bill. Households experiencing extreme hardship can apply for the Home Energy Emergency Assistance Scheme, which provides up to $720 once every two years to help with paying energy bills.

Using the right energy comparison tool

Energy comparison sites that you see on TV or hear about on the radio say they want to help you find the cheapest deal on energy. Though it may be cheaper than your current energy plan, it may not be the best deal on the market. In fact, some comparison sites were fined by the ACCC for claiming they compared all or most plans on the market. Many push you on to plans that aren’t the best to make the highest commission. They usually call you at inconvenient times, too.

Econnex won’t call you. Econnex is an innovative new energy comparison site that lets you see as many plans available to your area and see the savings in dollar amounts. We won’t call you either, as our system is 100% online.