The Essential Services Commission has released its 2017-18 Energy Retail Offer Comparison Report which compares the electricity and gas retail offers available to South Australian residential and small business customers.

It won’t come as a surprise that over the past 12 months average annual electricity retail offer prices have increased. Residential customers saw an average increase of 18% for Standing Offers and 14% for Market Offers; the equivalent of an average annual bill increase of $405 and $268 respectively.

Small businesses were not much better off with retail electricity Standing Offer and Market Offer prices increasing by 17 percent and 13 percent respectively, equating to an average dollar increase $750 and $516.

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

It was noted that the differences between Standing Offers and Market offers ranged from 3% to 29% for residential customers, and 3% to 26% for businesses. The report stated that “at 30 June 2018, where a retailer discounted a retail Market Offer against its Standing Offer, residential electricity customers on a Standing Offer could have saved between $92 and $905 annually had they switched to their retailer’s lowest-priced Market Offer”. That’s quite a difference.

So, it pays to shop around – but you will need to ask some questions.

Energy retailer offers are discounted in many different ways such through tariffs, discounts, fees and charges, contract duration, sign-up incentives and pay on time. Make sure you compare how the various plans are being discounted and how this applies to your situation.

You can head over to the Energy Made Easy online service as a starting point, however you might need to dig a bit deeper, as was discovered by mum and energy savings sleuth Jemma B. You can read all about her story here.

Of course, if you can’t be bothered with all of that you can ask for some independent advice. Tandem Energy can help you find the best deal and help you manage your energy costs now and into the future. Contact info@tandem.energy for more details.