Why do your power bills keep going up?

Why do your power bills keep going up?

HOUSEHOLDS should be able to compare and select electricity deals on a mobile phone app, the Government will tell power retailers today.

The app would gather a customer’s existing contracts and payments and electricity use and automatically come up with any deals that were cheaper, Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg told news.com.au today.

“At the moment you have to go online, type in the information — and you might not have it — and work it out yourself,” Mr Frydenberg said.

The option will be put to the retailers today at the second summit aimed at cutting energy costs for families and businesses.

The power providers also will be urged to contact some one million customers with advice on how to get cheaper rates. Already 215,000 people have consulted a government site to get savings tips.

The phone app idea is based on a success British program, uSwitch.

This involves holding a phone over a electricity bill’s QR code — the square ‘‘quick response’’ block found in many apps — for an automatic response.

The system also can provide a digital copy of your bill by holding the app in front of the screen. In Britain all energy retailers with more than 50,000 customers must provide the QR code.

The code would contain a customer’s existing plan, its rates, consumption levels and payments over a year.

Then uSwitch enters the scene to provide prices comparisons. It is even possible that a consumer could switch retailers in the same process if they come upon a cheaper offer.

The retailers will consider the option but are also expected to again tell the Government they need certainty on the clean energy target before they undertake investment and expansion.

Mr Frydenberg said there had been record investment in renewable energy in 2016 and industry stability would be encouraged by the implementation of 49 recommendations of the 50 made by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel.

“There is no silver bullet to reducing power prices. That’s why we are taking action on all fronts,” he told Sky News.

“The clean energy target is one of the key recommendations out of the Finkel report which the Government continues to consider.

“But the bearing in mind that Dr Finkel himself intended that a clean energy target would come in 29020, which is more than two years away.”