Origin energy Gas insane high gas bills, anyone else

Eaturbo · 19-12-2015, 02:02 PM

Hi guys, I have metered Origin LPG gas to my house. My last house also had LPG gas which was used for hot water only with two 45kg bottles. Now my last house we used an average of one bottle or $180 every 3 months. This house with also gas hot water we are using $600 every 3 months. Now nothing has changed with regards to the way we use or shower but the bill is 3 times the price. First bill was $600 second bill was $500 as first bill was winter and this one the end of winter and into summer. There must be a reason for this because there's no way where using 3 times the amount of gas. The plumber has checked for leaks and checked the hot water system but it's fine.

I believe we are being ripped off by origin and the meter is dodgy. I am going to make up some fittings and fill a 9kg bbq bottle and see how much the meter says it takes to fill it. Has anyone else had problems with high gas bills and thought the meter was ripping them off. Apparently there's others in the area that have disconnected from the piped gas and put in bottles due to not trusting the meter. You can't tell what you using cause the meter just keeps adding up where the bottles you could see how many months you took to use one.

**cs123** · 19-12-2015, 02:14 PM

Have a look here and talk to them first

http://www.ewoq.com.au

JAJH · 19-12-2015, 02:17 PM

Mate, utility companies in this country rape us with no consequence and the Govt/ACCC are just toothless tigers. If there was an easy, inexpensive way to get off the grid, the population would move in droves. In a similar boat there is only my wife and I at home with no kids and we both work full time, so how the hell can 2 people use $700 worth of electricity in a quarter the same as people with young kids or teenagers. Makes no sense to me!

snopony · 19-12-2015, 03:36 PM

I was warned off origin by my real estate agent a few years back whilst moving state. was told they charge like a wounded bull.

Top_Ghia · 19-12-2015, 03:36 PM

Not gas but I had a one off massive water bill out of the blue. The water usage was more than 10 times our normal usage. Our usage for the years before and ever since have been constant.
I disputed it and told them the meter is faulty. The just kept telling me that's not possible. They asked if I had I pool which I don't. None of my neighbors had a pool either. The meter reading was correct too.
So when I insisted that the meter was faulty and I demanded a new one they didn't want to know about it and issued me a new bill which was actually lower than what I normally paid.

PS, can you fill up my bbq bottle for me?

Top_Ghia · 19-12-2015, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAJH

Mate, utility companies in this country rape us with no consequence and the Govt/ACCC are just toothless tigers. If there was an easy, inexpensive way to get off the grid, the population would move in droves. In a similar boat there is only my wife and I at home with no kids and we both work full time, so how the hell can 2 people use $700 worth of electricity in a quarter the same as people with young kids or teenagers. Makes no sense to me!

It's your fridge and probably your hot water.

nstg8a · 19-12-2015, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

Not gas but I had a one off massive water bill out of the blue. The water usage was more than 10 times our normal usage. Our usage for the years before and ever since have been constant.
I disputed it and told them the meter is faulty. The just kept telling me that's not possible. They asked if I had I pool which I don't. None of my neighbors had a pool either. The meter reading was correct too.
So when I insisted that the meter was faulty and I demanded a new one they didn't want to know about it and issued me a new bill which was actually lower than what I normally paid.

PS, can you fill up my bbq bottle for me?

We got a letter saying our usage had spiked, and to check for leaks.
Then a fortnight later we got a water bill for $700.

So rung up and asked for it to be rechecked, a few days later we got s call saying it had been checked and verified and that was how much we owed.

So point blank knowing they were lying I told them to stick it, and we would making a complaint to police about fraudulent behaviour.
Less than an hour later we had an urban utilities tech knocking on the door wanting to check for leaks.

How did we know they were lying? We had had landscaping done, and the moron landscapers buried the water meter.... There was no way they could have checked that meter, unless they have X-ray eyes.

Bill has been miraculously credited so our bill for the 1/4 was $70.

Lying thieving dogs.

marty351 · 19-12-2015, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstg8a

We got a letter saying our usage had spiked, and to check for leaks.
Then a fortnight later we got a water bill for $700.

So rung up and asked for it to be rechecked, a few days later we got s call saying it had been checked and verified and that was how much we owed.

So point blank knowing they were lying I told them to stick it, and we would making a complaint to police about fraudulent behaviour.
Less than an hour later we had an urban utilities tech knocking on the door wanting to check for leaks.

How did we know they were lying? We had had landscaping done, and the moron landscapers buried the water meter.... There was no way they could have checked that meter, unless they have X-ray eyes.

Bill has been miraculously credited so our bill for the 1/4 was $70.

Lying thieving dogs.

That great feeling when you know you've got one up on them!
I would have notified all relevant authorities of this extortion attempt, it's criminal behaviour.

nstg8a · 19-12-2015, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marty351

That great feeling when you know you've got one up on them!
I would have notified all relevant authorities of this extortion attempt, it's criminal behaviour.

The information has been passed on, even sent the story to a few media people.

At the moment they are saying there's been a mistake, and they were checking the neighbors meter. But the neighbor has also received his account as usual, and with quite different numbers in the meter to what ours would have been.. So unless they checked the same meter twice, and then sent it to two different addresses they're screwed haha.

Our house is only 8 months old, neighbours has been there for decades lol, it's meter has a much higher number showing as you would expect.

Olbucko · 19-12-2015, 05:51 PM

If Origin's charges for electricity are high the charges foe extra services are extortion, recently I had an electric off peak HWS removed which made one of the meters redundant. the meter, despite being at least 40 years old was still attracting a standing charge of 12.7c per day, $46.36 per year for doing nothing. So I went along and spoke to the local electrician, no problem, we can remove it and probably charge you half an hours labour for the job, however Origin charge the contractor a $300.00 fee to process the paperwork and dispose of the meter, which of course, he has to pass onto us. I doubt that it would cost Origin anything to scrap the old meters, they must be worth at least a couple of dollars each as scrap.

So that's a nice little earner that Origin's got going, there must be tens of thousand of people with unused meters getting charged 12c a day, next year 15c, who knows how much in 10 years time.

Bit like the old protection racket, pay us a little extra a day, if you don't we will come and chop your power off and charge you for that, and charge you again for putting it back on plus any other charges we can invent in the meantime.

So I have decided to bite the bullet and pay the bastards my $300, In 5 or 6years I will be ahead and they will be the loosers.

nstg8a · 19-12-2015, 06:50 PM

We are always looking at ways to reduce our reliance on the big utility companies. Next house will probably be further out of town so we can set up properly to be a self sufficient as possible

BlueBear · 19-12-2015, 08:10 PM

Have a think about combining your gas and electricity together.
We were with Origin for gas and AGL for electricity.
Phoned them both up to see what deals they would do.
Origin not really interested, but AGL gave us a very good deal, so now all goes through them.

Cheers,

Sioso · 19-12-2015, 08:43 PM

We moved into a new house in May and switched to Origin.
House has gas ducting, gas hot water and gas cooking.
I knew I would be in for a big bill over winter but $1585 and that was for just 67 days!
Pay on time usage discount reduced it to $1420 but how the hell can it be that much?
I thought my electricity (also Origin) was going to be low as a result of the gas being so high but that rolled in at $600.
I signed up on a 12 month contract but can't wait for it to finish.

xisled · 19-12-2015, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Olbucko

If Origin's charges for electricity are high the charges foe extra services are extortion, recently I had an electric off peak HWS removed which made one of the meters redundant. the meter, despite being at least 40 years old was still attracting a standing charge of 12.7c per day, $46.36 per year for doing nothing. So I went along and spoke to the local electrician, no problem, we can remove it and probably charge you half an hours labour for the job, however Origin charge the contractor a $300.00 fee to process the paperwork and dispose of the meter, which of course, he has to pass onto us. I doubt that it would cost Origin anything to scrap the old meters, they must be worth at least a couple of dollars each as scrap.

So that's a nice little earner that Origin's got going, there must be tens of thousand of people with unused meters getting charged 12c a day, next year 15c, who knows how much in 10 years time.

Bit like the old protection racket, pay us a little extra a day, if you don't we will come and chop your power off and charge you for that, and charge you again for putting it back on plus any other charges we can invent in the meantime.

So I have decided to bite the bullet and pay the bastards my $300, In 5 or 6years I will be ahead and they will be the loosers.

Have you checked it will actually reduce your bill. I thought on your invoice all metering charges are either service to property or supply charge. Even if you do remove the meter it may not make a difference.

Also with the charge Origin is the retailer so the charge will be coming from the dsitrbutor but because origin are your retailer they will
Charge you for it.

Olbucko · 19-12-2015, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xisled

Have you checked it will actually reduce your bill. I thought on your invoice all metering charges are either service to property or supply charge. Even if you do remove the meter it may not make a difference.

Also with the charge Origin is the retailer so the charge will be coming from the dsitrbutor but because origin are your retailer they will
Charge you for it.

I still pay $1.31 per day standing charge for the first meter, can't get out of paying that.

Till about 10 years ago there was no standing charge, it started at 20c a day, now it has increased sixfold to $1.30.

Eaturbo · 19-12-2015, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sioso

We moved into a new house in May and switched to Origin.
House has gas ducting, gas hot water and gas cooking.
I knew I would be in for a big bill over winter but $1585 and that was for just 67 days!
Pay on time usage discount reduced it to $1420 but how the hell can it be that much?
I thought my electricity (also Origin) was going to be low as a result of the gas being so high but that rolled in at $600.
I signed up on a 12 month contract but can't wait for it to finish.

That is absolutely crazy, so $2000 for 67 day for power and gas. Does anyone else not think that this is daylight robbery. Who in there right mind can even afford to pay bills like this. And people say we waste money on cars

GASWAGON · 20-12-2015, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

That is absolutely crazy, so $2000 for 67 day for power and gas. Does anyone else not think that this is daylight robbery. Who in there right mind can even afford to pay bills like this. And people say we waste money on cars

Sounds like someone needs to start a petition to send to the ACCC?

snopony · 20-12-2015, 02:40 PM

They didnt do the usual "could not access meter therefore we are going to gouge you with an average and not tell you until you ring up after the first heart attack..."

Had that happen.

Eaturbo · 20-12-2015, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snopony

They didnt do the usual "could not access meter therefore we are going to gouge you with an average and not tell you until you ring up after the first heart attack..."

Had that happen.

Not with me the didn't as the reading matched what is on the bill. But do they really think that people are stupid and will just pay the bill even when it's clear its 3 times what it should be

Top_Ghia · 20-12-2015, 07:29 PM

Go back to bottles.

mr smith · 20-12-2015, 07:48 PM

Orign suck. Just about to move gas and electricity to momentum. How does a late fee on an easy way sound because we paid more??

xisled · 20-12-2015, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

Not with me the didn't as the reading matched what is on the bill. But do they really think that people are stupid and will just pay the bill even when it's clear its 3 times what it should be

Maybe you did use the extra gas or left an appliance on. On a daily basis I see this and it is usually a valid reason for a massive spike in usage.

Another reason your previous meter reading may have been under read so you were charged less on your previous invoice and as they have got the correct reading it has come back into line. Check your previous invoice and compare the usage, to last year usage. Do not compare price as price can increase and not give you an accurate comparison.

Gas meters are not hugely complicated and in 5 years of working in the gas and electricity, working for 3 different retailers, I have seen 1 gas meter be faulty. I'm not sure how gas bottles usage can be tested, with natural gas what the distributor will do is get all your appliances work out what the usage could be and compare it to how much gas you have used.

xisled · 20-12-2015, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sioso

We moved into a new house in May and switched to Origin.
House has gas ducting, gas hot water and gas cooking.
I knew I would be in for a big bill over winter but $1585 and that was for just 67 days!
Pay on time usage discount reduced it to $1420 but how the hell can it be that much?
I thought my electricity (also Origin) was going to be low as a result of the gas being so high but that rolled in at $600.
I signed up on a 12 month contract but can't wait for it to finish.

Changing retailer won't actually do a thing as the meter readings come for the distributor unless origin messed the invoice up. Rates may be different for each retailer but most companies invoice would be very similar in price.

xisled · 20-12-2015, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snopony

I was warned off origin by my real estate agent a few years back whilst moving state. was told they charge like a wounded bull.

If that was the case they wouldn't be one of the biggest energy retailers in Australia. They charge around the same as all other retailer do.

Eaturbo · 20-12-2015, 10:09 PM

Only appliance is gas hot water and the meter reading are correct. My last house had bottles so I know how much gas I used there over a six year period. Only had two bills here as its a rental house but theres no way my gas usage has gone up 3 times with the same people doing the same thing. Whatever the reason is its not acceptable and the cause needs to be found.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xisled

Maybe you did use the extra gas or left an appliance on. On a daily basis I see this and it is usually a valid reason for a massive spike in usage.

Another reason your previous meter reading may have been under read so you were charged less on your previous invoice and as they have got the correct reading it has come back into line. Check your previous invoice and compare the usage, to last year usage. Do not compare price as price can increase and not give you an accurate comparison.

Gas meters are not hugely complicated and in 5 years of working in the gas and electricity, working for 3 different retailers, I have seen 1 gas meter be faulty. I'm not sure how gas bottles usage can be tested, with natural gas what the distributor will do is get all your appliances work out what the usage could be and compare it to how much gas you have used.

pcman · 20-12-2015, 10:11 PM

sign up with agl LOL was with them at my last place, had a few massive bills and ended up on a payment plan, at 1 point had a bit of extra cash each fortnight so was paying 20-30 more on each payment, came home one day to no power they had cut it off due to no payment.... there stupid system had not accepted the deposits as payments on the plan cause they where not the correct $$ value

Eaturbo · 20-12-2015, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

Go back to bottles.

That's what I'm going to do, and im going to make up fittings to fill up a empty 9kg bbq bottle from the metered gas supply and see how much the meter says it takes to fill it. If the meter says its taking 12kg of gas or $60 worth than I have a case for fraudulent charges.

Top_Ghia · 20-12-2015, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

That's what I'm going to do, and im going to make up fittings to fill up a empty 9kg bbq bottle from the metered gas supply and see how much the meter says it takes to fill it. If the meter says its taking 12kg of gas or $60 worth than I have a case for fraudulent charges.

They'll probably have you charged as I'm pretty sure it's illegal to fill up your own bottles.

Eaturbo · 20-12-2015, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

They'll probably have you charged as I'm pretty sure it's illegal to fill up your own bottles.

Hope so, than I can go public with how I was charged when I proved that they were ripping me off. I've filled heaps of gas bottles when I worked at a servo so I know how to do it. Only doing this so I can get an idea of how accurate the meter is. This is why these companies make so much mones because know one is prepared to take them on as it too hard to prove anything.

xisled · 21-12-2015, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

Hope so, than I can go public with how I was charged when I proved that they were ripping me off. I've filled heaps of gas bottles when I worked at a servo so I know how to do it. Only doing this so I can get an idea of how accurate the meter is. This is why these companies make so much mones because know one is prepared to take them on as it too hard to prove anything.

Ask them to do a meter test. It should be simple thing to do.

Or go to to the Ombudsman http://www.ewoq.com.au/

There is a few things you can do and "take them on".